Realized Potential
by Dridius
Summary: Ron accidentally uncovers Drakken's evil Lil' Diablo plot. Instead of getting Kim from Prom he goes it alone so that she can have her special night. AU.
1. So Obvious

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though.

**A/N: **Hello there, This is the second fic Ive started... so... please be rough! X-P.

This idea popped into my head as I was thinking of another Kim Possible fanfic storyline I will be starting and posting the first chapter of soon.

To me, Ronald Dean Stoppable is the _John McLane _of the Disney world you know? Just the guy who happened to be there when Sh** hit the fan and could do something to fix it. So he did. Unrecognized and mostly unappreciated. He did it anyway. With Kim there he didn't usually have to do much, but when she wasn't he showed some of what he could do.

He is what I like to call an 'Epic By Necessity' kinda guy. Only as good or skilled as the situation demands. Unlike Kim, who **needs** to be the best and recognized for it.

So... Here is my view of the last 20-30 minutes of the **Kim Possible: So The Drama** movie with one minor alteration and everything it changes.

What did I change you ask? Well read on my friend.

Read, review and, above all, enjoy.

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**Chapter 1: So Obvious**

The full moon shined bright as the young teen arrived at his favorite hangout. He parked his beat up, well used blue scooter in front of the restaurant and walked in. His entire demeanor, from his greater than usual slouch to the way he dragged his feet as he walked towards the counter, told of the unusual depression that had settled on him.

This was Ron Stoppable. A hopeless optimist that could see the bright side on the dark side of the moon. Depression stuck to him as often as the flu, which he could only got once and from a super-powered villainess at that. Depression just wasn't his thing.

Social outcast? Normal was overrated. Lost 99 million bucks in a few weeks? Nothing but a lesson learned. Lost his pants on a statistically impossible basis? Just made him immune to crippling embarrassment.

But tonight. Yep. Tonight something had definitely pierced that fortress of optimism.

Even the restaurant music seemed in line with his feelings as he slouched on to the counter, put his right elbow on the counter-top and propped his head on it. His face set in a frown and his mind lost in sad thoughts. He didn't even notice the nervous smile on Ned, the former assistant manager of Bueno Nacho.

"Welcome to Bueno Nacho" Ned said, casting a nervous glance at Lars, the new manager. "May I take your order?"

"Ron!" He whispered, hiding his face from Lars with a food tray. "Something is very wrong!"

"Got that right." Ron sighed, not having really heard him. He looked up at the menu. "Alright lets see… Two Chimeritos grande sized. Three orders of Nacos and a grande sized soda. To go"

Rufus, Ron's ever loyal pet, stuck his head out of his left pocket and did a great impression of a starving mole rat.

"OK, make it for here. Rufus cant wait." He propped his head back on his hand, lost in his mind again.

"Si!" Ned said nervously as Lars walked by behind him. "Ron, snap out of it! Something weird is going on here…"

"Hey you worthless slug!" Lars yelled, putting his face right up to Neds like a drill instructor. He certainly had the body for the job. "Did you ask our favorite customer if he would like some Diablo sauce with that!"

"I-I did not sir" He cowered then turned to Ron with the product. "Diablo?"

"Huh?" Ron said, barely coming out of his reverie to glance at Ned. "Yeah…sure…whatever."

Lars smiled and turned to get the food. Meanwhile Ned opened the Diablo sauce packet and quickly poured it on the food tray

"And here it is." Lars boomed in his rough voice as he picked up the food and placed it in the tray. "Nice and hot"

"Yeah, gracias." Lars said as Ron paid for his food. He elbowed Ned hard when he didn't say anything.

"And have a muy bueno day." Ned said after picking himself of the ground.

Ron was oblivious to all the odd behavior that just occurred. He numbly picked his tray up and walked to his usual booth. He sat down and looked at the food instead of tearing into it like usual, sinking into the big cushioned seat.

Rufus had no problems diving into the food though. Pigging out like he and his human often did. After moving the food a bit in the tray Rufus noted a strange red line on the tray. Moving the food out of the way to see what it was he uncovered a message. The word EVIL was written there in Diablo sauce.

Rufus was very surprised at this. He then started squeaking and jumping in place, waving his little paws at Ron, trying to get him to notice the message.

Ron just reached for the straw, his eyes downcast as he ripped the paper covering off. He was holding the straw with both hands when his eyes opened wide then narrowed as he looked down.

"No… it cant be…" he whispered. "Nooooo!"

Rons yell echoed around the empty restaurant, much to the delight of Ned and Rufus.

_Finally _Both of them thought as Ron jumped out of the booth and stomped towards the counter area where Lars was.

"This the last straw!" he yelled at the manager.

"I beg your pardon?"

"This is the last straw!" he yelled again, waving the straw he was holding in a tight fist at him.

"No, we have more in the back." He said, showing Ron a bunch of straws from under the counter.

"You took away the bendy straws!" Ron clarified as he got up on the counter-top and demonstrated just how un-bendy the straw was.

Lars stared dumbly at the straw as Rufus and Ned face-palmed.

Recovering quickly Lars scowled at Ron.

"You sir" he said, pushing Ron of the counter-top. "Have lost it"

"Why? Just because I care?"

"About bendy-straws" he mocked as he turned around and laughed.

"I'm telling on you!"

"Telling who?" Lars said mockingly.

"Your boss." Ron replied as if he'd just made a huge threat.

Ron stormed out of the restaurant and looked for the nearest payphone. He spotted it near his scooter and ran over. He put in a quarter, punched in a number he had memorized but never had to really use and waited.

"Hello"

"Wade, its me. I'm at Bueno Nacho and I've got comments and concerns."

"Oookay, want me to patch you through to their 800 number?" Wade said as he put down the food he'd been eating and rubbed his hands together.

"No way. I wanna go right to the top. Gonna have words with the head joncho."

"I don't know Ron." Wade said as he started typing.

"Getting through to a CEO is not easy. This guys private line is probably super top secret… Got it! Your in." Wade finished and leaned back on his chair with a satisfied smile.

_Heh. Wade could probably have done it while sleepwalking. _Ron mused with a smile.

Ron waited as the phone rang.

"Hola." A voice he knew well answered. "Bueno Nacho, el presidente speaking."

"Dr. Drakken?" Ron asked aloud, bemused. He looked back at the restaurant and saw Ned and Rufus holding up the tray that spelled EVIL to the window. Ron could only gape at them as the new information sank in.

"If this is about switching my long dis…" Drakkens voice was cut off as Lars, who had stealthily moved behind Ron, took the phone off his hands and hung up.

"Dr. Drakken is a very busy man Mr. Stoppable. There is no need to bother him." He said as Ron steped back from the hulking man, his back to the phone. His mind was still trying to make heads or tails of the sitch.

He looked to Rufus and Ned for help. All he got was Ned suddenly jumping up and pressing his back to the window in panic. He then jumped over the booth seats and tables, tripping a few times in his haste to the door with Rufus hanging on to his shirt for dear life. He got out of the restaurant screaming. As the doors swung closed they were suddenly pushed open by something. Looking down Ron realized what it was.

The Lil' Diablo toys that Bueno Nacho gave with every Little Niños meal were marching in formation. Right towards him.

Ned ran past him and of into the night screaming. Rufus jumped of him right into Rons pocket and hid.

Ron just stood there gaping. Unsure of how to handle the Lil' Diablo horde that slowly surrounded him.

"Lil' Diablos attack!" Lars commanded as he pointed at Ron and stepped back with a sinister smile.

The Diablos started closing in on Ron as he stepped back into the payphone, still unsure of what was going on. The adorable pint sized toys started climbing up his clothes. Rufus stood out of his pocket, got his mean face on and started karate chopping the invaders off. Ron finally snapped out of it when they reached his chest.

"Hey! Cut it out!" He yelled uselessly as he swatted them off. He backed up further and climbed onto the payphone to escape the Li'l Horde. When the Diablos started climbing it he jumped over them, landed on his chest, then got up and ran towards his scooter. The little Diablos nearest him jumped up to his leg and tripped him. Ron kicked them off and crawler the last few feet to his scooter.

He put on his helmet and tried to start it immediately. It sputtered a few times but didn't start.

"Cmon, cmon…" He chanted as he continued to hit the ignition and give it gas. Meanwhile the Diablos and Lars slowly walked towards him. Lars wore a mocking smile, sure that the little toys were more than enough to capture the loser.

Just as the toys reached him and started jumping onto the scooter it sputtered to life. Ron immediately hit the gas and sped off… at just above walking speed.

Looked down at his beloved scooter and says "This thing is junk. Am I the only one to notice this." Rufus was too busy beating off the Diablos that had made it onto the scooter.

Lars, seeing that Ron was getting away, started running to catch him. Just as he jumped to tackle him to the ground, Ron gave the gas a twist and swerved to the side. Lars hands closed over air as he smashed through a Bueno Nacho sign. Ron sped through town to safety, getting more speed out of that beat up scooter than ever before.

_- The Prom -_

Kim Possible, world famous teen hero, was having the time of her life. She was dancing with her boyfriend of a few months and was loving every second of it.

Eric was everything she wanted in a BF. He was smart, caring, thought her world saving thing was cool and, most importantly, was a total hottie. Bonnies disgruntled look was evidence of that and only added to her delight. She had finally made her eat her words.

She was a bit worried about Ron and the way he had been acting lately. But she put that small worry on the backburner for later. Tonight was all about her and Eric.

_Beep Beep be Beep_

The four tone sound snapped her right out of her blissful state. She stopped dancing and walked to their table where Monique was sitting, to the worry of Eric who thought he'd done something.

She picked her purse and rummaged in it till she found the beeping Kimmunicator. Just as she was about to answer she noticed the look Monique was giving her.

"What?" She asked her.

"Maybe you should let that go to voicemail?" the beautiful African-America fashionista told her.

"But what if its important?"

"More important than… Eric! Hiiiiii." She said as the object of their conversation joined them.

"Hey Monique." He greeted her as the Kimmunicator sounded again in Kims hand.

Letting out a sigh of relief he put a hand over it said "I think Wade would understand."

"Yeah." She said dreamily, looking into his eyes. She hit the silent button along with the 'mission mode' button to keep it from beeping again and put it back in her purse which she promptly threw back on the table. Eric led her back to the dance floor where they returned to their careless world. Monique looked on, feeling happy for Kim.

- _Rons Scooter-_

Ron was getting every bit of unused speed out of hi scooter, which was only about 25 miles an hour. He looked behind him and saw that the toys weren't following him anymore so he let up a bit on that throttle, much to the relief of the overtaxed engine.

His pager beeped. Rufus got it out of his pocket and gave it to him when he reached for it.

_Payphone. Next intersection. Wade. _He read.

He spotted the payphone and stopped next to it as it rang. He answered it quickly.

"Ron, are you alright?" The pre-teen genius asked, his worry obvious.

"The Diablo toys are EVIL!" he answered as Rufus came to stand on his shoulder so that he could listen.

"What?"

"The Lil' Diablos man! Their totally evil. They almost caught me and Rufus. They were climbing all over me with their pintchy little claws." He ranted.

"Uh… are you sure your ok Ron?" Wade asked, a little skeptical.

"Of course I'm sure. Oh man. Its so obvious. Drakkens using the more than 30,000 Bueno Nacho locations worldwide to give out his evil prizes!"

Wade, having heard Drakkens voice himself, picked up his own Diablo toy and placed it in his scanner. What he saw, along with voice confirmation that it was indeed Dr. Drakken that Ron had spoken too, convinced him.

"Yo, Wade. You still there buddy?" Ron asked, fearing that he'd been hung up on.

"Yeah I'm here. And your right, something is definitely going on at Bueno Nacho. I just scanned the Diablo I got in my Little Niños meal and its bad."

"How bad?"

"All bad. The circuitry is unlike anything I've ever seen! Its like a real robot, only tiny."

"So what does it do? Besides pinching." Ron asked, rubbing his stomach.

"I cant tell. We need to show it to an expert."

"Who could we possibly sho…" was all ron said before he face palmed himself. "Of course. Kims dad could probably figure it out just like he figured out the Bee-Bees."

"Yeah, he's our best bet."

"Alright, I'll head over there. Can you call Kim and tell her to meet me there?" Ron asked, secretly thrilled that a mission had popped up so that he could pry her away from the dance, and him. He felt guilty a moment later though.

"Already tried. Um… she… silenced the Kimmunicator and hit mission mode…"

Ron knew what that meant. She only did that when she was doing something that was incredibly important to her and didn't want to be bothered. She usually did it when she had to come up with a routine for some cheerleading competition or stuff like that.

She has been looking forward to the Prom ever since she and pretty boy hooked up…What with the beautiful dress, the hair… He thought as the depression that had been pushed back by the adrenalin came back. Missions were practically the last thing they still did together.

"Oh… ok…well… keep trying. I'll go on ahead and talk to Mr. Dr. P.. I'll call ya when I get there."

"Alright" Wade said just before Ron hung up.

Wade may only be an kid, but he could hear and understand the sadness in Rons voice. He'd already let Kim know of it when he called her with the video of Ron breaking down on live TV.

_Looks like Kim didn't do much even _after _she knew Ron was hurting. _Wade thought as he continued to analyze the Diablo and set his Kimmunicator systems to keep calling till Kim picked up. He also set up a quick delivery.

_Honestly, how can she be so blind?... Blind and selfish. I mean Ron infiltrated four villains lairs and stopped schemes we didn't even know about just to get her out of that librarians version of detention! If doing something like that doesn't prove his devotion then nothing can! And that wasn't even the first time…_

Wade continued with his little mental rant, hitting his keyboards harder and harder as time went on. He was so wound up that when his phone system rang he jumped a foot from his seat and almost knocked over his soda. He looked at the Id and saw that it was the Possibles home phone.

He checked his Kimmunicator system to be sure that it was still calling and saw that it was.

Letting out a sigh the thought _Man, this will probably just make him even sadder. Hearing Ron like that just doesn't fit. _Typing a few commands, he answered the call.

-_BN Headquarters-_

Drakken was sitting in his CEO office, completely and utterly bored. He dug into his ear to clear it of wax. Sat back twiddling his thumbs and whistling.

He finally gave in to his frustrations and hit the intercom on his desk.

"Shego! Status report!"

"It's a mixed bag…" she said.

"What!?"

"On the positive side: global saturation has reached optimum levels, we can strike at midnight!"

"But?"

"Well… there's a snag."

"Kim Possible." He groaned.

"Nope. It's the Sidekick."

"Huh? The buffoon? How can he be a snag? What about her?" Drakken asked, thoroughly confused.

"Looks like he bumbled onto the plan. Something about bendy-straws. The onsite henchman tried to capture him with the unmodified Diablos but he got away."

"And her?"

"Surveillance team says she's still at the dance with that new boytoy you gave her." She smirked. _Drakken really thought this one through. _She thought.

Once he finally brought her into the loop. He told of how he'd gotten into her 'high school head' and found the perfect distraction for the great Kim Possible.

Boys.

Not just any boys either. They had to be smart, athletic, witty and, above all, hot. Once he'd compiled a profile it'd been a simple matter of finding one for whom she was the ideal type as well. Which they did. Then, using some well placed bribes, they got young Eric Fling and his family to Middleton. Then all they had to do was wait for her to take the bait and then execute their plan when she was too distracted to notice. By the time she did would've been too late.

He hadn't included the sidekick in any of his plans, and that seemed a bit sloppy to her. But it was nothing to worry about. _Without Kimmie the sidekick is nothing._ She had thought.

Drakken thought for a few moments then came to a decision.

"Move up the clock, we attack the rest of the world at 10pm. But I want Middleton online NOW. We will take no chances. Make sure none of the Diablos go anywhere near that school, let her have her festivity. The buffoon and the resident nerd however are top priority."

"Gotcha" she said "Alright you guys, you heard Dr. D. Get the Middleton Command Signal up and running. Input targets for the sidekick and nerdlinger. Make a one-and-a-half mile radius 'Safe-Zone' with the high school at it center." She ordered the various henchman that manned the control room. They hurried to follow her commands. In a few minutes the parameters had been set and the command tower in Middleton activated.

_To be continued..._

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If you saw the movie, which if your reading this you obviously did, then you know whats gonna happen next. How will Ron handle that?

Eric is a real dude, how will that play out?

Should I buy the dark red shirt or the grey one?

Stay tuned! Next chapter will me up in the next couple of days.


	2. Dancing With Devils

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though.

**A/N: **Here we go, chapter 2! Things are really heating up.

First action scene I've written so please tell me what you think.

Special thanks to all who have reviewed the first chapter, didn't expect a response that quickly. You brought a smile to my face :-}.

Of special note:

Krikanalo: Thanks for the input, I'll see what I can do. Oh, and you get the Golden Chocolate Chip Cookie for first review. Savor the digital goodness.

CajunBear73: I'll make a subtle reference to John in later chapters, see if you can catch it. I also made one by accident in this chapter, can you find it?

Sentinel103: I am thrilled to know that I'm not that predictable! Wrong on all counts except one, where you are either 2/3 right or all-right. I haven't decided yet. Which one? You will just have to wait and see. Kudos on Your 'Once again' story man, I've read all of em. I highly recommend it to everyone.

To everyone else, thanks for the support!

So... here we go! Oh, since I _suspect_ you are all just dieing to know, I went with the midnight-blue shirt. Sorry, no polka-dots for me.

Please read, review and, above all, enjoy.

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**Chapter 2: Dancing With Devils**

-_Possible Residence-_

Ron arrived at the Possible house some fifteen minutes after he'd hung up on wade. Normally he would walk right in since the place was a second home to him. But with the distancing that he and Kim had been experiencing lately, he had begun to feel more and more like an outsider.

He walked up to the door and knocked. The hope sprung up in him that Wade had gotten through to Kim and she would be the one to answer the door already in 'mission mode' and ready to go. That hope was dashed when it was her mother who answered.

"Hey Ron, what are you doing here this late? I thought you'd be at the dance with Kim." Kims mom, Ann Possible, greeted him. She had hoped that Ron would've been at the dance, maybe even gotten the courage to confess the feelings that were so obvious. She'd seen the way her daughters blossoming relationship with Eric was hurting him. As nice as Eric seemed, she was sure Ron was a better match. She just wished her daughter would open her eyes and see it too.

_All that hurt over making some _statement _at a high school dance. Kimmie I hope you know what you're doing._

"Hey Mrs. Dr. P.. Sorry for coming over so late but Wade and I need Mr. Dr. P. to see check something. Is he in?" He asked, that new awkwardness in his body language.

"Of course, come in." She told him, reading his body language like only a mother who had seen him grow up since the age of four could. "He's down in the basement, go on down. Ill bring you some snacks."

At the sound of the word snacks Ron stomach gave a very audible growl. Ron rubbed his stomach only now noticing how hungry he was. _Darn! I forgot my food at Bueno Nacho! Drakken sooooooo owes me a refund._

With a sincere smile he said "Thanks Mrs. Dr. P, I'm starved." He stomach gave another growl as proof.

Ann couldn't help but smile wide as she moved to the kitchen.

Ron followed Ann to the kitchen and picked up the cordless phone to call Wade when a thought occurred to him. As soon as he heard the line connect he voiced it.

"Hey Wade, how am I going to show Dr. P the evil Diablo toy stuff through a phone?"

"Don't worry, I sent you something that should help. It should be there…"

The doorbell rang.

"right about now I guess." Ron could practically hear the smile on Wades face.

Ron ran to the door, opened it to find… a small package on the welcome mat.

"Wade, how do you do that man." He asked with a chuckle as he picked up the package and opened it to find a Kimmunicator, only it was black and all of the buttons were white. As soon as his hands touched it the screen came to life showing the young genius in his room with his ever present soda.

"My own Kimmunicator?! This is soooooo cool." Ron gushed, showing every bit of his childlike wonder.

When he heard himself say that in stereo he remembered the phone in his hand. He hanged up and went back into the house, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, its one of the first prototypes I made for Kim. Simple communication and analytical capabilities only. Not much but it will do for what we need. The color is the factory default."

_Good thing I hadn't scrapped it for parts like the others yet. Hope he doesn't mind. _Wade wondered.

The fact that the Kimmunicator that was now his came from Wades scrap heap did nothing to lower Rons 'Christmas morning' level excitement over finally having one.

"So…" Ron said, smile dropping a bit. "Kim on her way?"

Wade winced a bit at the hope he could hear in Rons voice.

"Sorry Ron, still no answer." At the end of that phrase Rons smile faded completely. Wade felt instant guilt. _Stupid Kim, hurry up and pick up! _Wade thought glancing at his caller program that he'd set for Kim.

"Right. Well… Lets show those scans to Dr. P. See if we can figure out what Drakken's up to."

Ron ran to the kitchen where Ann was making some sandwiches and returned the phone to its proper place.

"Here Ron, grab some while I pour some juice for you and the kids." Ann offered Ron.

Ron, very grateful for the food grabbed two then went over to the stairs that led down to the basement.

"Thanks Mrs. P!" he yelled as he inhaled the first one. Again, the sincerity in his voice brought a smile to her face.

Ron started on the second sandwich as we hurried down the stairs.

Mr. Possible heard him coming down and looked up from his work.

"Hey there Ronald, what can I help you with." Dr. James Possible asked turning his seat in his direction, clearly intrigued. Ron never usually came to him with questions.

"Hi Mr. Dr. P. Wade and I wondered if you could help us with some mission stuff."

"Of course. But where's Kimmie-cub? Shouldn't she be here if its mission related?"

Dr. Possible may not be as emotionally attuned to others as his wife, but even he could recognize the heartbreak that crossed Rons face for a moment before he tried to hide it.

"Uh… She's at the Prom. We…uh… thought we'd give her the night off. She…deserves it. Yep." He said, looking at Wade through the Kimmunicator and giving him a look that begged 'please play along'.

"Really…" James said, not believing a word of it but preferring to sidestep that particular minefield. "So what do you need me to check out?"

"Wade?"

"Uploading scans now"

Ron handed his Kimmunicator to James. James looked at the data that Wade had obtained from his scans and thought they looked very familiar. Then it hit him.

"I do not believe it!"

"They're totally evil right?" Ron said, looking over James shoulder at the screen.

"The cibertronic technology, it's the Hephaestus project! He used _my_ invention to build these things."

"Seriously?" Ron said "He steals a three billion dollar super secret tech and just gives it away with a burrito?! And he ditches the bendy straws?! This man does not know how to run a fast food business." He concluded.

James stared at Ron for a few moments before his wifes voice snaps him out of his reverie.

"Honey, Ron, the snacks are ready." Ann's voice drifted down to them from upstairs.

James handed the Kimmunicator back to Ron as he got up and moved up the stairs with Ron close behind.

"So how'd it go down there?" Ann asked from her seat on the couch when the two men came up.

"That Drakken fellow stole my technology to make those little Diablos." James answered, gesturing to the two toys Jim and Tim were playing with sitting on the floor by the coffee table which held a tray full of sandwiches next to five glasses of juice.

"We're playing with stolen technology." Jim told his brother.

"Cool" Tim answered.

Ron gravitated towards the tray, grabbed a sandwich and asked just before he took a bite. "So, what does your tech do Mr. Dr. P.?"

"The Cybertronic circuitry is like living metal. It can repair itself, modify itself, it can actually grow." He finished, showing his pride in the invention.

Ron chased down the sandwiches with some juice as his mind digested the info.

"And every kid on the planet has one…" He said in a very serious voice never before heard from him. _If these things can really do all that… Drakken has really thought this one through. _He thought as he went over the amount of work and planning that entailed.

Surprised at Rons serious tone, James hurried to reassure him. "Don't worry. It cant do anything without a command signal."

Right at that moment a low beep, like the sonar of a submarine in a movie, was heard throughout the house. It kept repeating at regular intervals as everyone in the house tried to figure out what it was. It didn't take them long.

Ron and James pulled Jim and Tim away from their Diablo toys just as the noise stopped. James cautiously approached the toys when they suddenly sparked and started growing and changing.

Its cute pincers turned into menacing claws, its adorable smile turned into a scowl and the D on its forehead turned sideways so that it looked mad. The straight part of the D separated, giving the Diablo the look of a Japanese samurai armor helm.

They continued to grow until they punched holes in the high ceiling of the Possible living room.

Ron put his 'serious face' on as he watched this happen. "Drs. P! Get the boys out of here, Ill distract the Diablos."

"Ronald…"

"Go! Distractions are what I do." He gently tapped his pocket "Rufus, were on."

Rufus, drowsily lifted the cover of the cargo pants pocket to see what was going on. He saw the giant menacing robot.

"Aaaaaahhaaaaaa! Noe!" the little guy squeaked as he dove back inside the pocket.

"Head to the garage!" James urged his family as they ran out the front door. No sooner where they clear than an energy blast tore through the open portal.

"Man this would be so cool if it wasn't trying to vaporize me…" The Possibles heard Ron complain. They heard a loud crash followed by "And crush me!"

Ron was able to dodge and evade the energy blasts from the cannons that the Diablos morphed their claws into. But only barely. Not used to direct confrontations like these, Ron was relying on pure instinct more than anything else. He dove into a roll between ones legs as it fired its cannons at where he had been and, using that momentum, jumped over the second one using its head to vault himself over as it hunched down to cut him with the saws that it grew its claws into. The Diablos saws followed Ron as he went over it but struck each other as they were about to reach him. The second Diablo rotated its chest, changed its saws into cannons and fired.

_Keep moving, keep moving... _Ron chanted to himself as he dodged the thick energy blasts by mere inches. _Aw man, I loved this jersey._ He thought as the beams singed and burned holes in it.

The living room had already been stomped into rubble and whatever was left was being finished off as the first Diablo moved from behind the second. The dining room, which was behind Ron now, was being shredded by every cannon blast he dodged.

_I have to take this outside or there won't be a house left._ He thought as he dodged another blast. He glanced to his right, saw the large wall sized living room window and acted. He bent down and picked up a piece of rubble. As soon as the second Diablo fired again he took off at a dead sprint for the window, throwing the piece of wall or floor at it at the same time. By then the first Diablo had finished moving and started shooting its cannons as well.

The small piece of rubble punched a hole in the window with various cracks spreading from it, but it didn't shatter as he had expected.

The floor he'd just stepped on as he ran erupted in green smoke and rubble as both Diablos synched and fired.

Five feet from the hole in the window Ron jumped for all he was worth, tucked himself into a ball with his arms protecting his head and legs bent over his chest and stomach, and went right through.

"Ow!..." Ron hissed just before he landed, stumbled into a roll and fell onto his back. He quickly rolled to the side and took a kneeling position looking back at the house. He was surprised at how far from the house he'd gotten.

_I made it halfway to the sidewalk… never been able to jump that far before. _He thought as he looked at the nasty cut on his right forearm. It formed a jagged red line from the top of his wrist to just before the elbow.

_The glass always shatters harmlessly in Bricks of Fury! Those liars._

Thanks to his experience as a volunteer at the Middleton Medical Centers various programs Ron knew that the cut was fairly deep but not life threatening. The bleeding needed to be stopped though. _Reeeally don't need to get lightheaded at the moment._

Looking back at the house, he heard the Diablos walking towards him. Ron quickly took off his red jersey and started wrapping his forearm tightly.

"Rufus, I need you buddy." He said, holding the makeshift bandage tight and propping it on his right knee to give Rufus a perch to work from.

Rufus stuck his head out, saw what Ron wanted and got to work on the knots he needed.

"Cmon, cmon…" Ron said as the Diablos tore right through the wall. One came through the left edge of the window, taking part of the wall out. The other actually used the door…sort of. Being so huge it took out the entire concrete doorway.

"Ta-da!" Came Rufus's squeak as he finished tying the last knot.

"Thanks buddy." He said, giving Rufus a 'high five' with his index finger. "Here we go again." Rufus jumped back into his designated pocket as Ron stood and took a defensive stance.

Once the Diablos got clear of the house they paused for a moment. The right one morphed his right cannon into a saw but kept his left cannon. The left one morphed his right cannon back into a claw but kept his left cannon. Both of them started advancing towards him.

_Gonna mix it up are we. _He mused grimly. _Like things weren't bad enough before._

He was starting to get tired. He needed to figure out a way to stop these things fast.

_Need some breathing room to call Wade. He'll know what to do. _He thought as round two began.

-_Possible Residence: Garage-_

James and Ann Possible stood in front of the garage door, both wearing very worried looks. They could hear the fight through the thick walls and what they heard only added to their worry.

"Maybe we should call the police?" Ann suggested. "Or that Global Justice agency Kimmie told us about…"

"They'd never get here in time. And we left all our phones in the house."

They continued to fuss until they heard a faint crash of glass followed by a louder crash. Looking outside through the windows on the garage door they spotted Ron kneeling in the front lawn. Saw him take off his jersey and wrap it around his arm.

The walls of the garage shook, accompanied by a very loud crash.

The watched as one of the giant robots tore through the entryway, paused, then advanced towards Ron.

"Ronald's in trouble." James commented.

"Ok" Ann said, taking charge "Were talking about giant robots here."

"Giant cybertronic robots" James corrected.

"Giant cybertronic robots armed with state of the art weapons." Jim added, worried.

"Ron never stood a chance." Tim said, mirroring his brothers fear. They both loved Ron. They'd known him as long as they'd known Kim and their parents. To them Ron wasn't _like _a brother. He _was _their brother.

"Boys!" James admonished his children. "How many times have I told you? 'Anything's possible for a Possible'. We can certainly help Ronald win!"

Throughout this exchange Ann kept as close an eye as she could on the fight outside. _Ron's doing quite well. _She thought as Ron barely dodged another punch that left a small crater in the dirt. _But that won't be enough. And I don't like what he did to that arm. _She could tell Ron was hurt, not badly but still wounded. Plus he was tiring.

She spotted Rons beat up scooter and had a thought. That thought quickly grew into an idea and then a plan.

"Jim, Tim. We need to borrow your rockets." She said with a confident smile. She turned around and told her family of geniuses the plan she had come up with. They all smiled, especially the twins. This was gonna be fun.

They started moving.

Jim and Tim got their rockets off the wall where they were hanged and started prepping them.

James opened the door enough for him to roll under it. Ann closed it behind him. James crept over to the scooter throwing a glance at the one-sided battle that was raging a few feet to his right.

His eyes locked onto Ron's, who happened to glance at James at the same time. A moment later Ron leapt to the side opposite James, dodging a saw and drawing the Diablos line of sight away from him. James grabbed the scooter by the handlebars and guided it back to the garage. As he waited for the door to open wide enough for him to pass through he had a strange thought. _Were Ronald's eyes always that deep a color? _He threw another quick glance at Ron and saw that… no, Ron's eyes were the light chocolate brown he remembered. He chalked it up to the unusual amounts of adrenalin pumping though his veins.

Had he kept looking, he would have noticed them change color for half a second before he charged forward.

He took the scooter over to the work bench that the twins regularly used. The twins where there with their rockets ready for installation. Both of them were wearing huge excited grins. They were joined by Ann who had just closed the garage door and quickly got to work.

The family of geniuses had the rockets installed and welded to the side of the scooter in minutes. Once they finished James rolled the modified scooter to the door and propped it up on its stand. The Twins made a few last minute adjustments to the rockets remote and Ann stood back a bit to give her family of rocket enthusiasts room for takeoff.

"Ready?" James asked, a hand on the garage door button and Ron's helmet in the other.

"Ready!" The twins replied in unison.

James hit the door button. As soon as it finished opening he yelled "Ronald! Think fast!" and threw the helmet at him like a Frisbee.

"Blastoff!" The twins yelled together, Jim held the remote up and Tim hit it with his fist. The rockets on the scooter flared to life, sending it after the helmet towards his owner.

-_Possible Residence: What's left of the Front Lawn_-

_What's Mr. P doing? _Ron wondered as he spotted James creeping towards his scooter. Further thought into this mystery was derailed as instinct told him to leap to his left. The saw barely missed him. He circled them counterclockwise, putting their backs to James as he rolled the scooter towards the garage.

Once he'd finished moving he noted the positions of the Diablos. The one with the claw was nearest him with the saw on a few paces back and to the left. He saw and opening and took it.

Ron at an angle to the right then charged full speed to the left as the Diablo fired its cannon at where he had been headed, missing completely. It tried to crush him into the ground with the claw on its right arm but Ron jumped on top of it using his right arm to help himself over. Much to his arm's protests.

Channeling the force of his landing into his run he charged straight for the second Diablo. He faked left then spun right evading the Diablo's saw and rand right between its legs. He finished his run by sliding into the bushes that framed the Possible driveway.

Once he slid to a stop on the other side he shut his eyes tight and braced. After a few heartbeats he heard the mechanical sounds of the Diablos rotating but not shooting. After a few more he let out a short breath he'd been holding.

_I cant believe that actually worked._

He got to a low but ready kneeling position, reached into his right pocket and pulled out his kimmunicator. A part of his mind noted that he'd left it on after . P. handed it back to him.

"Wade, I got a couple of big problems here!" He whispered fiercely.

"If it has anything to do with a giant rampaging robot, I can relate." Wade responded in a calmer-than-he-should-be voice as a Diablo claw could be seen slamming into the desk he was hiding under.

"Dude, what do we do?"

"Dr. Possible mentioned their need for a command signal, if you shut it down you shutdown the robots." Wade explained as the Diablo could be seen shooting its cannon in the background. "But I'm in no position to trace it for you."

Ron thought for a second before stating dramatically "It's probably at the source of all this evil…" He took a deep breath. "Bueno Nacho."

At that moment Ron caught some movement out of the corner of his eye to his right. One of the Diablos had moved to the street in his search for him and spotted him. Two seconds later the bush he had be hiding behind burst into flames and disintegrated into ash. The Diablo on the street fired its cannon, almost hitting his outstretched right hand and kimmunicator.

"Oh cmon! A flamethrower too? There should be a rule…!" Ron complained, putting away the kimmunicator and taking a stance.

"Ronald! think fast!" He heard from behind him. Turning he just barely caught his scooter helmet.

"Blastoff!" He heard the twins yell next. A moment later his scooter came shooting towards him, propelled by two rockets.

Catching on quick, Ron jumped on the scooter as it blasted by him, slamming the helmet on his head with ease. He went under the robot that stood on the road and set a course for his favorite hangout.

_Booyah! The Possible clan comes through again! _Ron thought excitedly. His excitement was short lived as a green energy blast landed next to him, causing him to swerve and almost lose control. Glancing back he saw both Diablo robots closing in on their own rocket powered caterpillar tracks on each foot.

"Ack! Give us a break!" He screamed back as he took evasive maneuvers against dual cannon fire coming from the lead Diablo.

After various turns and some creative driving, Ron came to the long stretch of road that went straight to the restaurant.

"Rufus! We need the rockets to go faster!" Ron yelled to his buddy over the explosions.

The little guy opened his pocket, took a look at the rockets and spotted the red button near the bottom of it. He carefully but quickly made his way to the back of the scooter, saw the identical button on the other rocket and pressed them both at the same time with his feet.

Rufus held on tight to the back of the scooter as the rockets started to hum louder. Half a second later the rockets afterburners kicked in. The flames trailing out of the rocket turned from yellow to blue and grew twice in size. The scooter shot forward at a ridiculous speed, leaving the Diablos far behind in a cloud of smoke.

The scooter went so fast that Ron could feel his face being pulled over his skull. Rufus held on for dear life with his front paws with his body trailing behind like a weird flag.

Just as Bueno Nacho came within sight the rockets dropped down their output. A ten minute drive was done in two.

"Whoa…" Rufus squeaked moving from the back to Rons shoulder with his little body hanging down his back.

"No kidding." Ron said, looking ahead at the restaurant. "Oh no. He even changed the giant taco sign!" he complained to his buddy.

Rufus squeaked at Ron in the way that only he understood.

"Oh! Right. That must be the command thing. How're we supposed to take that out?"

Rufus looked behind them at the rapidly gaining Diablos, they'd obviously put on a burst of speed themselves. He got an idea and quickly squeaked it to his human.

"Lure!" He squeaked, pointing behind them at the Diablos.

Ron looked at the approaching robots though his rearview mirror. Then at the Command Tower. Then back at the robots and frowned.

"This is gonna be tricky. Hold on Rufus!"

Rufus scampered over Ron and into the front basket, his usual seat on the scooter, found his specially made goggles and held on as ordered.

At that moment Lars, evil restaurant manager, came out the front doors and saw them approaching. Ron popped a wheelie as they neared him and pulled hard on the throttle, getting enough boost out of the rockets to get airborne. They flew over a startled Lars and over the roof of the restaurant. Ron hit the brakes fast, turning off the rockets and falling on the roof where he skidded sideways to a halt right at the edge.

Lars looked up at him with a scowl as Ron looked behind him.

"Looking the wrong way dude!" Ron yelled to Lars.

Lars looked behind him, saw the rapidly approaching giant Robots and gave a very unmanly scream. He dove to the side to avoid being run over by the Diablos like the command taco sign was. The tower slammed into the ground as the Diablos sped past it, chasing their prey. A piece of it hit Lars over the head and knocked him out.

Just as the Diablo was about to slam its claw into Ron it suddenly stopped. A second later it started shrinking. With each shrink a burst of electricity escaped until it shrunk back to its original size, shape and adorable look.

Ron heard the same sound of electricity behind him. He turned to find three more Diablos with their arms stretched towards him shrinking aswell.

_Oh man, I would've been cooked if that hadn't worked. _He shivered a bit as he imagined just how _cooked_ those flamethrowers would have made him.

"That was a sweet idea buddy." He told Rufus.

"Booyah!" Rufus squeaked, giving him a thumbs up.

He pulled out his kimmunicator and hit the 'call Wade' button.

"Hey Wad… Aww DUDE!"

The kimmunicator had a fairly large chunk of the top missing. Half the screen was gone. It looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. The edges over the missing part were melted.

"Man, I just got this." He said, severely bummed.

He got back on the scooter and hit the ignition. The scooter started at once, the rockets giving a low hum.

"Ok, ok… I got this… I can totally do this… no big." He said, trying to raise his confidence. "I got us up here, right? I can definitely get us down, right?" He asked Rufus, looking for a little extra support.

Rufus just readjusted his goggles and held on tight to the baskets bars. "Go!" He squeaked.

Ron took off for the edge opposite him, popped another wheelie as he got close and gunned the throttle. The second they were over air he let off causing them to drop then gunned it again as they neared the ground. The result was a rough but safe landing back on solid earth.

"Phew" Ron and Rufus said at the same time, relieved.

He turned the rocket scooter off and walked to the payphone he had used not 40 minutes before, stuck a quarter in and called Wade.

_I'm gonna run out of quarters at this rate._ He thought,bummed again over the fate of his new gadget.

"Hello?"

"Hey Wade, you alright."

"Yeah, the Diablo shutdown _and_ shrunk down. Thanks to you I'm gessing."

"It was Rufus who came up with the idea." He said, giving props were props were earned.

Rufus beamed with pride from Ron's shoulder.

"Why are you calling from a payphone though?"

"My kimmunicator got shot…" He said with a sigh. _Didn't even get to put a sticker on it… _He sniffed a bit.

"Oh… don't worry about it Ron. I can make you a new one after this is over."

"Thanks man." He said, his spirits rising a bit. "Any new from Kim?"

"No… She hasn't answered yet." Wade said haltingly.

"Well, is she alright? What if the Diablos attacked her at the dance?" He asked with mounting panic. Normally he wouldn't be this worried. But these bots were deadlier than anything they had ever faced before. Drakken had definitely stepped up his game.

"Oh…" Was all Wade said. He hadn't thought of that. "Hold on."

Wade got his keyboards and monitors, the ones that still worked at least, back in place as fast as he could. Once he did he started typing furiously, tapping into the kimmunicators emergency systems and taking control of the extendable camera.

"Talk to me man!" Ron said, panic about to boil over.

"I'm checking!" Wade answered, Ron's panic was as contagious as his excitement.

As soon as an image appeared in his screen he grabbed his joystick and snaked the camera out the corner of Kims purse. Once out he looked around to assess the situation.

Everyone was either out on the dance floor dancing, or at the tables resting and/or eating. Wade spotted Kim on the dance floor having a good time alongside Eric. It was obvious that no Diablos had attacked the dance and everyone was blissfully unaware of what was going on outside those walls.

"Wade!" Ron yelled.

"She's fine. Looks like no Diablos attacked the school." Wade said, retracting and deactivating the camera.

Ron let out a very audible sigh, as if a two ton weight had been taken off his back.

"Good. Listen, I'm gonna go check on Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P and the twins. Call ya when I get there…"

"Alright."

"Wade?" Ron started, then hesitated. _Do I really want to know? _He wondered. _No, I reeeeally don't. But I need to._

"Yeah?"

"How…how did she look? Was she happy?" He asked after a few heartbeats. He knew the answer, but he needed to confirm it.

Wade fidgeted on his seat. He considered lying. Saying that 'no, she looked bored' or something like that. But his quick mind dashed that idea. It would raise his hopes. Then smack him back down when the lie was exposed, which it would. Very easily.

_The truth, in this case, will hurt less than a lie. _He concluded. Hating the fact.

"Yeah." He told him"She looked happy."

Ron gave a sharp nod that only Rufus saw. _I figured._

"Thanks man. Call ya when I get to the Possibles." Ron said before he hung up.

He mounted his rocket scooter and took off down the road he had just driven through. His mind deep in thought.

_To be Continued..._

* * *

What could be going on in the mind of Ron Stoppable? A confusing place to be, I'm sure.

What will he do now?

Should I eat that last piece of pizza?

Fair warning though, don't expect me to update this quickly. This chapter was already half done when I posted the first one. I'm a slow writer by nature, although this story seems to keep pouring into me.

I'll be right back after these messages!


	3. The Calm

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though.

**A/N:** Hello everyone! Here is Chapter 3 for your reading pleasure! I planned for this chapter to be longer but since I want to take my sweet time with the next part I thought this would be a good place to stop and post. This chapter was really hard for me to write and I hope I kept everyone in character.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Seriously! You guys rock! I planned on responding to you all here but, Lo and Behold! I discovered the wonders of the reply button. So Ill only respond to the ones that don't have that wondrous thing.

So:

Moon: Dude, you've got to give me more than 2 phrases to work with here. I mean Which part did you hate? The fight scene? The dialogue?... Did you want me to get the red shirt?

studyofchaos: Thanks for the support!

Guest: Oh mysterious person, I thank you for the review and here ya go. A new chapter, nice and hot.

And so... on to our regularly scheduled programing. Oh and yes, after a furious battle I did get the last slice of Pizza! I might just write a oneshot about it.

Please read, review and, above all, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Calm**

-_**Load Residence: Wade's Basement Room**__-_

Wade sat back in his chair after Ron hung up. Something in his voice seemed… off. It wasn't his depressed voice, he knew what that sounded like. This was different.

It sounded almost… resigned?

He had heard of the terms 'love-struck' and 'love-sick' before. Read a few books and articles on them. He'd always thought them to be inaccurate and exaggerated.

Now here he was, a witness to two prime examples of each. The onset of one causing the other. _How can something so unquantifiable cause so many changes?_

It was fascinating to see. But also hard to watch since he knew both of them and considered them his best friends. He wished there was something he could do to help him, but he had already all but told Kim he was hurting. _I mean, I actually had to show her his breakdown. And it happened on live TV! She was probably the only person in Middleton who hadn't seen it._

"Might as well make a study of it." He said to himself. "My own puberty is right around the corner and I could use a map."

He filed that idea for later consideration as he spun his seat around to surveyed the damage done to his room/workshop/command-center.

_It will take me months to get everything back to working conditions. _Just as he finished that thought a piece of the holo-room projector fell from the ceiling in a shower of sparks and smoke.

With a sigh he got up and started organizing the wreck his room had become, separating things into three groups: scrap, salvage, and functional. As he went from one part of the room to another he spotted the Wade-bot 3.0 in the corner were its mod-n-deploy dock was.

He was proud of his latest design. Its was composed of various interchangeable parts: tracks, body, arms and head. He had made several versions of each part with specific functions. It even had a 'vehicle mode' for when rapid means of transport were required. The new Wade-bot 3.0 system was flexible. It was sleek. It was cool.

It lay in smoking pieces all over the corner along with the dock.

Wade let out a huge groan and moved to inspect it.

It wasn't good.

It had obviously been blasted a couple of times by the Diablo and then stomped on for good measure.

Looking at the individual pieces, he could barely keep the tears from flowing. From the looks of things there weren't enough parts left working to make a fully functional bot. He had had loads of fun making it and was planning on asking Ron to help him run some field tests during the summer. It would have been great.

Sniffing, he picked up a head that was fairly undamaged, rubbed affectionately and took it to the functional pile.

Walking back to the corner he moved one of the 'body' segments to its upright position. It was the 'cargo pod' part. He had made it to carry various pieces of gear out into the field or to store them. It was basically a reinforced box with rounded edges that reached his waist. It had two doors that bent outward twice to open. It had been severely damaged.

It had obviously taken a direct hit from a cannon. Its upper right side had a hole in it, the edges looked melted. The right door looked welded shut. Wade fiddled with the controls on top, trying to open the left door, but it was unresponsive.

_Circuits must've been fried. _He thought, moving to the left side. He popped the manual override, turned it 180⁰ counterclockwise and pushed it back in. The left door popped open. _Gotta make that easier to turn._

He opened it and removed the only thing that was currently stored there. It was a foot wide four-and-a-half foot long case. He had a hard time getting it out since the right side door couldn't be opened. He let out another half groan half sob. The right side had been hit by the blast like he'd feared.

Inside were three pieces of tech he had only just cleared for field testing. The case's right side was gone, melted. He opened it to inspect the damage.

It wasn't as bad as he thought. Two of them, the one on the right and middle, looked unharmed and still snuggled in the foam that lined the case. The one on the left was destroyed though. He closed the case and moved towards the functional pile then thought better of it and walked to the large safe he kept next to his computer station.

It was where he kept the various prototypes he was working on, some gadgets he had finished but didn't want lying around and stuff he hadn't used but still held promise. It had taken some hits, but it was made to take all sorts of punishment so it was only singed and scratched. He put his palm on the scanner and opened it. Just as he put the case on one of the shelves his system rang. Incoming call.

Wade sighed. Kim still hadn't answered.

He sat back on his chair, typed a few commands and answered Ron.

-_**Possible Residence**_-

Halfway back to the house the rockets on Rons scooter fizzed out. He was forced to finish the trip at his scooters normal speed. Meaning very, very slowly.

He parked it in front of the garage and took a few steps from it. He stared at his beloved scooter for about thirty seconds.

_I've been ruined forever. _His eyes went to the rockets. _Wonder if the twins will let me keep em. _Images of him rocketing down the street on the way to school entered his mind. The image was made better when he saw a certain pretty boy choking on his dust.

He was brought out of his reverie by the sounds of rubble being moved around. He walked to the ruined entrance of the Possible home and entered.

"Everyone alright?" He called as he went in.

The family had already started cleaning up after the attack. James could be seen on the phone describing the damage that had been done, probably talking with some insurance people. Ann was busy picking up all the photographs that had lined the walls of the house. Even the ones that that were in other parts of the house had fallen, their frames breaking. Some were gone, blasted to ashes. But thankfully all of em had copies in an album somewhere, so copies would be made to replace those.

Still… It didn't feel good to see them scattered like that.

"Ronald!" James said, hanging up the phone hurriedly on a conversation that was going nowhere at the moment. "That's our line. Are you alright?"

Ann stopped looking for pictures the moment he heard Rons voice, she had been extremely worried for his surrogate son. Especially after she saw those robots take off after him.

James gushed over how brave Ron had been and asked what happened after he and the robots took off. Ann examined the boy closely looking for any wounds. As she examined every inch of him, the back of her mind noted how different Ron looked. Ron with a long sleeved mock turtleneck shirt under an oversized jersey was one thing, remove the jersey and you got another thing entirely.

Further thought into that was halted when her eyes got to his right arm in time to see a drop of blood fall off one of his fingers. The makeshift bandage had done as much as it was going to.

"Ron," She interrupted them using her doctors voice. "please go into the kitchen, take a seat and wait for me to get my first aid kit. I'm going to take a look at that arm." She walked off without waiting for a response.

Both James and Ron looked at his right forearm. The red jersey was soaked through, being such a light material it hadn't taken much. A few thin trails of the fluid could be seen crisscrossing his hand like the roots of a tree. Ending at a few fingertips where they accumulated into drops and fell to the floor.

Looking at his hand he suddenly remembered it. _Ouch! Man that stings! _

Over the years of helping Kim with her missions Ron Stoppable had developed the passive skill of compartmentalizing his physical pains. So long as it was minor, he wouldn't take notice of it till he found the bruise or cut.

"Oh," James said, noticing the wound as well. "Oh dear. Move along Ronald. Get that looked at." He ushered Ron down the hallway and into the kitchen where he was seated in the breakfast nook. James placed the phone back in its charger and walked off to pick up all the glass from the broken window.

Ron just sat there, knowing better than to argue. Moments later Ann walked in with her first aid kit. Which was really more of a suitcase filled with everything she needed to perform minor surgeries. She put it on the table, brought up a chair and got to work.

"Alright, let's take a look." Ann opened her suitcase and took out a pair of sharp looking scissors. As she started cutting the crusty jersey off the twins came barreling into the kitchen.

"Ron!" They said in unison.

"How fast did they go?" Jim asked.

"Was the thrust continuous?" Tim asked

"Did they interface with the engine alright?" Jim fired again.

"How about the brakes? We weren't sure those would work right with rockets." Tim confessed.

Ann smiled as she removed the crusty rag from his arm and inspected the cut with an experienced eye. It wasn't as bad as it looked. The cut wasn't deep but it was long and would definitely need stitches. She cut off that ruined section of the sleeve and started cleaning it, making sure there were no glass shards in it.

Ron followed the twin speak like a heated tennis match. Once they finished he thought for a moment, keeping his eyes on the twins and not on Mrs. Dr. P. as she worked. He winced a few times at her ministrations but he trusted her completely so he wasn't worried.

"Um… I don't know since the speedometer on my scooter broke. I don't know bout the thrust thing. Yes, the engine started great. And yeah, the brakes worked great." Ron frowned a bit at that last one. "You mean I might've had to crash the thing to stop it?" A little panic seeped out.

"No, we just weren't sure that's all." Tim reassured.

"Oh." Ron was suspicious but he remembered something. "Hey, the rockets fizzed out halfway back, think you could check em? I might need the ride in a few minutes."

Both the twins frowned.

"That's odd." Jim said.

"They should've had enough fuel for two hours of uninterrupted thrust." Tim stated. Both of them walked away, talking about the various probable causes for the anomaly.

"What do you mean you'll need the ride Ron?" Ann asked as she removed a few shards she found and proceeded to disinfect it.

"Just the usual, Drakken has a plot set up so we're going to stop it." Ron said, keeping his eyes anywhere but on his arm. "His new lair is just a hundred miles west of here so the scooter would be fastest… if the rockets work."

"Hm." Ann said as she finished cleaning the cut. "Well all I need to do here is stitch this up and you'll be ready to go."

"Oh good cus… wait, what?" Ron turned to Ann and saw that yes, she had said stitch. She had already gotten the needle and thread. "Whoa there Mrs. Dr. P, I… uh… was thinking more of a nice and tight bandage?" He started scooting along the bench, away for the very pointy object.

"No. Stitching that up is the best way to go about it, now get back here and stay still." Ann had a hard time keeping her giggles down. Here was a boy who fought two giant killer robots without hesitation. But a little needle and he was suddenly running for the hills.

"Yeah…well…um…you know." He started desperately grasping at excuses, looking for one that would postpone the torture Ann had for him. "I…uh…need to get ready for the mission! Yeah, from the looks of it Drakken is ready to make his move. Stitches would take too long…so…could you just…um…tape it up nice and tight? Or something. Please?"

Ron looked imploringly at Mrs. Dr. P. unknowingly using his own version of the PDP. Whereas the Possible women looked like the cute puppy in a pet store that made you go 'aww', Ron looked more like the puppy in the cardboard box on the corner with an 'adopt me' sign. He just dipped his chin down and looked up with sad chocolate brown eyes that said 'save me'.

"Alright." She sighed. Both her daughter and her had discovered his ability years ago and kept the weapon a secret. Still… they had no response against it. It really didn't help that he perked up so fast, you'd think she'd just saved his life.

She put the needle away and took out some butterfly band aids, some gauzes and a roll of med tape. Ron scooted back to her and she got to work. While working she studied Ron again. He never noticed since he was focusing anywhere but on her as she worked.

She was surprised at what she saw. The turtleneck, unlike the jersey, hung from his slim frame just right. It hinted at what the jersey had hidden. He might have been slim, but no way could he be called slight. From what she could see his body was actually decently built. His muscles spoke of speed and endurance.

_Really shouldn't be surprised. _She thought as she taped his arm, careful to keep the gauzes between the cut and the tape. _Helping Kim with her missions since the first one, muscles were an unavoidable side effect._

"As soon as the mission is over I want you back here so I can stitch that up properly." She told him after she was finished.

"Yes Mrs. Dr. P." Came the well used reply.

"That is only temporary." She gestured to the taped arm. "You have to be careful or you might reopen it."

"Thanks Mrs. Dr. P."

Ron got out of the breakfast nook and walked out of the kitchen grabbing the phone on the way. Ann stayed cleaning up. He dialed a number he has used more that night than ever before.

"Hello?"

"Yo, Wade."

"Hey Ron, everyone alright over there?"

"Yep. Everyone but the house though." Ron said, walking through the house and seeing the damage done to it for the first time. "It's gonna need more than a new paintjob." He paused and looked through the hole in the ceiling. He could see the clouds that were moving in, covering the stars and moon.

"Hey Wade." He said, looking around the empty room. "I think it's time you dust off that Wade-bot."

Wade knew exactly what that meant.

"Ron, I really think you should go get Kim. Drakken's plot this time seems different."

"No." He said simply. "Kim… has more than earned a night of just being normal. She has been looking forward to tonight for weeks. So you and I will handle Drakken."

"What about you?"

"Normal has never been my thing, has it. Plus my hangout has been taken over by an evil madman so I've got nothing better to do." Ron said.

"Um…"

"Dude cmon, we can handle it. And remember our talk about the whole cloaking thing. Remember how it doesn't really help me when you do that dude."

"Ron… My Wadebot 3.0 was destroyed by the Diablo…" Wade informed him. He hoped that would be enough to change his mind about not getting Kim.

"Oh…" He said, losing a bit of confidence. "Well… what about the 2.0?"

"I scrapped it for parts…"

"Oh…" Ron was about to relent, about to agree with Wade and go get tell Kim what had happened. But then he looked down.

Half buried under some rubble was a picture. He bent down and picked it up. It was an old one. Before the missions. Both Kim and he had the same stupidly happy expressions that only kids are really capable of.

_Good times. _He thought. _Simpler…_

The decision he had reached on the way back from Bueno Nacho cemented itself in him. He tucked the picture into his back pocket.

"Guess I'm going it solo…" He said.

"What!? Ron, no. There's no way you can handle this alone."

"Wont know till I try will I?" Ron said. "Besides, Rufus will be with me right buddy?"

Rufus squeaked a hard affirmative, there was no way his best friend was doing anything without him being there to help.

"Any thoughts on how I should go about stopping Drakken?" He asked the genius.

"Ron… please think about this…"

"I have Wade. So you can stop calling Kim"

There was something in Rons voice that stopped Wade from downright ranting about what a bad idea it was to go alone. Determination. It was a rare thing to hear from him. He had only heard it on the few occasions that Ron had gone on a solo mission. He knew there was no talking him out of it. He gave one last try anyway.

"Ron… There's no way I can talk you out of this?"

"About as much as talking Rufus out of eating cheesy nachos." He chuckled. "So, any thoughts?"

Wade thought for a minute, he looked around his room hoping an idea would pop into his mind like they often did. He thought about everything Dr. Possible had said about the cybertronic tech and about what he had learned from his own scans. His eyes came to rest on the safe and one item he kept there. An Electro-Magnetic Scrambler gun he'd made after Team Impossible took out his entire computer system.

_It could work. _He mused, he did a few mental calculations and smiled. _It will definitely work._ He picked it up and spotted some of the other stuff he kept there.

"Wade? Still there buddy?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, hold on a sec." He answered absently, looking at many of the items he kept in the safe. _He's gonna need all the help I can give him._ He concluded. _But how do I get all this to him?_ He glanced around the room looking for something, anything, he could use. His search came to an end at the destroyed wadebot dock. An idea formed.

He ran to it and started wrenching bits of debris from it. _Please be alright, please be alright... _He chanted as he continued to dig through the wreck. Looking for that one particular part that could make or break his plan.

"You know this whole not seeing you while you do stuff thing is seriously starting to get to me." Ron complained. He had walked outside where he saw the twins sitting near his scooter with a laptop. It was connected to their rockets.

"Yes!" He heard Wade cry triumphantly.

"Aw man, you were doing it on purpose?" Ron asked, somewhat tweaked. "Not cool man."

"What?" Rons tone of voice brought him out of hid ecstatic trance. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I just found what I needed to send you some gear you will need since you're so set on doing the mission."

"Oh, cool man. I'll be here getting ready."

"Ron, are you sure about this?" Wade asked one last time.

"I'm sure Wade, besides someone has to make Drakken pay for ruining Bueno Nacho! I mean Naco Night? What was wrong with that! And then…"

"Ok," Wade cut him off before he got any momentum. "well I should have the gear over there in about ten to twenty minutes so… Wade out!"

"Uh, ok later then." Ron felt so unfulfilled for some reason.

He shook it off and hung up. He ran back into the house and the kitchen to return the phone to its proper place. Ann had just left to put away her first aid mega kit. Afterwards he walked to the hallway closet to get the mission clothes he kept there for just such occasions.

"Oh no." He said at the sight of it. The door had a huge hole in it and hanged at a crookedly. It had obviously been caught in the crossfire earlier.

He moved what was left of the door out of the way and checked the closet. Everything in it was shredded and burnt. His mission clothes lay among the towels and sheets in pieces. He kneeled down and picked up the remains of his shirt. Its loss hit him harder than it should.

_Its just a shirt…right?_ He stood up and continued to stare at the shirt. Wondering why he was so choked up about its destruction.

"Ron. Are you ok?" Ann asked. She had just come out of the master bedroom to continue her search of pictures when she saw him. He was just standing there looking intently at a rag.

Ron was startled right out of his musings.

"Huh? What?" Ron said, looking around. "Oh… um… yeah. Its just… I'm gonna need to run home to get my mission threads. The ones I kept here are trashed." He showed her the remains of the shirt and gave her a sad smile. He walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. He balled the shirt up and moved to toss it in the trash bin. He paused for a moment as the emotions that hit him at the closet came back. He wondered what they were again but shook it off and threw the shirt in.

"Ron. Are you sure you're alright?" Ann was very concerned, this somber looking Ron was not one she liked seeing.

"Yeah Mrs. Dr. P., I'll be fine. Be back in a few minutes." He moved to the hallway when a thought hit him. "Oh, and Wade said he's sending me some things we'll need so there might be a deliveryman coming."

"Alright Ron." Ann let it drop. For the time being at least.

Ron walked out of the house but before he headed for his house next door he checked on the twins. Tim was still sitting next to the scooter with the laptop. Jim was coming out of the garage carrying a container that read 'J200'.

"Hey guys," He said, Rufus jumped out of his pocket and ran up the scooter to get a better view. "So, were you able to fix em?"

"There was nothing to fix." Tim answered.

"But, then why did they fizz out like that?" Ron asked, confused.

"You pressed the red buttons." Jim said, popping a lid on one of the rockets and pouring the contents of the container in.

"What? No I didn't… Rufus did." Ron pointed at the naked mole rat, which earned him some angry chattering and squeaks.

"It wasn't a bad thing." Tim reassured.

"It just triggers the afterburners, which guzzles up all the fuel in exchange for a temporary but powerful speed boost." Jim explained as he moved to refill the second rocket.

"So they're fine, I'm just downloading all the data they recorded so that we can improve our designs." Tim finished.

"Oh cool. I'm going home to change, think they'll be ready in ten…maybe fifteen minutes?"

"Sure." The said at the same time.

Ron nodded and made the short walk to his home next door. Rufus running along at his side.

_**-Load Residence: Wade's Basement Room-**_

Wade hung up fast before Ron could get into his rant. He could give Drakken a run for his ranting money if given the chance.

He looked at the part in his hands that made him so excited. It was one of the 'Vehicle mode' parts. It was designed for vertical takeoffs and landings, a VTOL. It looked a lot like a Buzz Lightyear jetpack. Probably because the design was inspired by it. Boosters at the base of the wings lifted it, and anything attached to it, up then the ones at the back fired propelling it through the air.

He took it to the functional pile where he had placed the head part earlier and set it down next to it. He grabbed the head. It had basic communications, scanning and HD recording capabilities. It would do.

He attached it to the top of the VTOL part and crewed it in. It made clanking sounds as he turned it. After one turn Wade pushed it in hard to finish the connection. Both parts lit up and powered up as they acknowledged each other. His computer station beeped as the bot connected.

Wade went to it and opened his Wadebot systems. He uploaded an operating system that would allow him to pilot it like a drone and ran diagnostics to make sure both parts were 100% operational. To his relief, they were.

He picked the drone and carried it to the 'cargo pod' he opened and emptied earlier. It definitely wasn't operational. But he didn't need it to be. He only needed it to carry the stuff. He placed the drone on top and pushed it down. It gave a loud metallic clank. His station beeped again.

A message popped up saying that the connection had failed. He told it to ignore the error but to maintain the attachment. It read 50% secure. It would do, he only needed it to hold from his house to the Possibles. And with that it was ready. All he needed to do was put the stuff into the pod, carry the whole thing outside then pilot it.

He ran to the safe and got the case he had gotten out of the pod earlier and the gun. He put the case back on the top shelf of the pod, it had the hole but the case fit so snuggly that there was no chance of it falling out. He put the EMS gun in the second shelf and walked back to the safe.

"Hnm… Yeah he will need this, definitely." He mumbled, picking up a small case. "And this could come in handy and so would this… Not the laser lipstick, he might cut off something important… like a leg." He took the things he had chosen and put them into the second and bottom shelves of the pod. He walked back to see if he missed something and saw that yes, he had.

He picked it up. _Yep, he will seriously need this. _He put it in the pod and tried to close the door. He had a hard time. After a minute of trying he gave it a hard frustrated kick. That did it. He stared at it for a bit then shrugged.

He picked the drone up and carried it up the stairs, through the house and out the front door.

_Kim…_Huff, huff. _Was right… _Huff, huff, grunt. _Being in my room so much isn't healthy… _He wanted to just let it drop once he was in the front yard but he didn't. He knew he had no time to fix it if something broke so he carefully put it down.

"Phew!" Wade wiped the sweat off his brow. "I gotta start working out." He resolved to ask Kim for help with that later.

Wade walked back down to his computer station and got everything started. Outside the Drones wings shot out, its vertical boosters ignited and it rose smoothly into the air. Once it was high enough its horizontal boosters fired and the drone flew off into the night with its cargo.

_To Be Continued..._

* * *

Well... Its official. Ron is going it alone but for his trusty buddy Rufus. Bet you never saw that coming did ya? You did? oh... Well did you guess that he wouldn't have a kimmunicator OR a wadebot with him?! No you didn't did you.

So... Can you see where I'm going with this?

Should I ask that nice girl next door out for a drink?

Find out next time! Nos vemos luego mis panas!


	4. Upgrades

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though.

******A/N: **Its done! Finally finished chapter 4. This chapter is very descriptive so I had a hard time keeping a good flow going. I think It came out good but please tell me what you think.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! You keep pumping gas into my writing engine.

As for asking the girl out for a drink. I went there to ask. Everything was great, you know? I was charming and all that. Then her boyfriend showed up and it all went downhill from there. On the upside though I made two new friends so... still a win.

And now... On with the show!

Please read, review and, above all, enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Upgrades**

_**-Stoppable Residence-**_

"Mom! Dad!" Ron called as he entered his home. "I'm going on a mission so don't wait up!"

Ron was about to run up the stairs to his room but stopped on the first step. His parents hadn't answered.

"Mom? Dad?" He called again, louder. Still nothing.

He walked to the kitchen and… yep, there it was. A note stuck the fridge with magnets. He read it, grabbed the phone off the wall and dialed his mothers cell phone.

"Hello?" She answered. Ron could hear music in the background.

"Mom, why didn't you guys tell me you and dad were going on a two month cruise through the Pacific for couples?" Ron asked.

"This is our way of telling you Ronnie." His mother replied sweetly.

Ron let out a groan. He really should be used to his parents taking off without telling him by now. But he wasn't. For some odd reason he always expected them to tell him important stuff like that before the fact.

"Alright, whatever." He sighed. "Just called to tell you that I'm going on a mission."

"Oh, please be careful Ronnie." His mother said, a little worried. "Remember to let Kimberly take the lead. And be sure to call when you get home."

"No worries mom, I'll call as soon as the mission is done." Ron said, acknowledging only two of her statements. "You guys have fun."

"Oh, we will. And please remember to be careful."

"I will, mom. Bye." Ron chuckled as he hung up.

Ron loved his parents dearly but sometimes, like now, they really annoyed him. They weren't bad parents, not by a long shot. But they just weren't as present in his life as most other parents are. Most times they just left him to his own devices.

Ron jogged up the stairs to his room. As he entered he noticed his computer was on.

_Must've left it on after I decided to go to Bueno Nacho instead of prom…_

He walked to his desk and stared at the screen. It still played the slideshow he had been looking at earlier. It was the virtual scrapbook Kim had given him for last Christmas. It went all the way from pre-k to that very Christmas. He could see how Kim grew from a little girl in pigtails to a beautiful woman with long flippy hair. And he could see how he… just grew taller.

Ron sighed.

Rufus, sensing the shift in Ron's emotions, scampered out of his pocket and onto his shoulder to comfort him.

"Thanks buddy." Ron said, giving his second best friend a sad smile. He returned his attention to the screen. "I guess… Bonnie's food chain finally caught up with us, huh."

Rufus looked at the screen as if it'd just called him a hamster. He jumped down to the desk and hit the sleep button on the keyboard. The screen went black immediately. He chattered and squeaked at Ron, pointing to his closet.

"Right… right! Ok, cmon Ron. Focus!" He slapped his face with both hands to beat the depressing thoughts out. He walked to the closet then stopped when he realized he hadn't beat all of em out. So he slapped his cheeks again.

"Cmon! What would the Fearless Ferret do!" He asked no one in particular. Rufus, spotting his chance, started squeaking and chattering the Fearless Ferret theme song. Ron noticed what he was doing and started singing along, dancing around his room and doing all the poses the Fearless Ferret was known for. By the end of it Ron had his trademark goofy grin splitting his face.

"Thanks buddy. Knew I could count on ya." He gave Rufus a high five and opened his closet, still humming the song. He took off his clothes and reached for his mission threads only to see they weren't there.

"Where are my cl… Ack!" Ron face palmed wearing nothing but happy face boxers, socks and a bandaged forearm. "Right! The mutant octopus slime wouldn't come off no matter what I did so I threw em out. What am I gonna do now?"

In response Rufus just scampered into the back of the closet. Ron slid the clothes out of the way to find Rufus jumping up and down on top of a big old padlocked trunk. It was where he kept his 'alter egos' among other things. More recently however he had placed one more item in there. A project he had started right after his fumble during the Bermuda Triangle mission.

He'd known something was bothering Kim back then, but he wasn't sure what. When she started avoiding him he thought it had to do with his performance on missions. So he started making changes to his mission gear. Minor things here and there that he thought would be helpful.

Then pretty boy showed up. Soon all he felt he had with Kim were the missions. So he took to his project with a zeal rarely seen in him. It was how he coped with depression, loneliness and fear. He made stuff with his hands. A remnant of his time at Camp Wannaweep. The mere thought of which sent tremors through his body.

"Rufus?" He said in a barely audible whisper. He couldn't stop the tremors.

Rufus recognized the tone and knew what to do. He jumped up to his shoulder and gave him as tight a hug as he could. The tremors stopped and Ron smiled at his companion. Rufus didn't know why he needed to do that, only that he had to.

"Thanks buddy." He said, petting Rufus's head. People really underestimated what that summer did to him.

On the upside though, he developed mad crafting skills. After he got back from camp he got into cooking due to the lack of an arts and crafts class. He developed mad skills there too. More recently he had started writing. Not stories like his brief and catastrophic stint as a journalist, but music. He had enjoyed writing Kim's song for the talent show and improvising the Naked Mole Rap, so he continued. It was a good emotional outlet. And he had been very…emotional…lately.

Unfortunately it hadn't been ready when Mr. Dr. P. had been kidnapped. That mission had just added to his funk. All he'd been able to do was yell Kim's name and get slammed into the concrete, repeatedly, by a mutant octopus.

He got the key from his dresser's top drawer and opened the trunk. He took out most of his customized mission clothes and gear and spread it out on the bed. Looking at all the pieces he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride.

"Guess it's time for a trial run, eh Rufus." He smiled at Rufus.

"Uh-huh." Rufus plopped down on the bed to watch Ron get dressed.

The first part he put on was the shirt. It was same mission shirt he had always used. A black oversized three-quarter sleeve mock turtle-neck shirt. No changes there.

The second part were the pants. Same grey cargoes but for a few changes. First, they fit him perfectly. Second was the nylon harness that he had sown in at the belt. It had a stainless steel clip buckle in the middle that secured the pants. Six buckles in the back for packs, two in the small of his back for one large pack and two above each hip for small packs. Thick strips of nylon connected the belt of the harness to the loops that circled his upper thighs.

All in all, his new mission pants fit him nicely. At first he had only wanted the belt, but Rufus demanded the whole harness. Poor little guy had been sent flying, left hanging or simply left behind whenever Ron lost his pants. Japan had been the last straw and he demanded security.

Ron tucked his shirt in, buttoned his pants, clipped the buckle with a metallic _click _and tightened the upper thigh straps. He moved his upper body around to get the shirt to settle right. Then made a few squats and walked a few steps to feel how the pants moved.

_Not bad. _He thought. _They don't billow behind me like the old ones. _Yep, the billowing pants had tripped him up more than once while running. They also had a tendency to get caught in stuff thus leading to their loss.

Ron grabbed his black mission sneakers and sat on the edge of the bed to put em on when a thought struck him.

_Hmn, I didn't get to use em in Japan…Might as well take them with me this time._

He tossed his sneakers on the floor and went do dig through his closet.

"I know I saw them around… here…somewhere." He dug through his closet throwing dirty clothes behind him. One of the shirts landed on top of his desk. When he didn't find them in the closet he moved to the dresser. Not there either.

"Rufus, you know where I put the rocket skate sneakers Wade gave me?" Ron asked as he moved to the box where he kept his games and toys. Rufus rubbed his chin for a few seconds before he scampered to the floor and under the bed. He came back pushing a black shoe box.

"Found them!" He squeaked.

"Right on!" Ron grabbed the box and opened it after sitting back on the edge of the bed along with Rufus. Inside were two normal looking sneakers and a pair of gloves, the right one with a blue button on the back palm. He put on the sneakers and the gloves. The gloves were a neat gadget of themselves. The button on the right hand glove could only be activated when pressed firmly by a finger wearing the left hand glove. A simple failsafe against accidental activation.

Ron took a few steps around the room then posed for Rufus, arms extended to the sides.

"So, what do ya think?" He asked.

Rufus stood on the bed and squinted at Ron, one paw crossed over his chest while the other rubbed his buck teeth.

"Ok." He said with a shrug.

Ron gave a shrug of his own, he didn't really care either. His new mission clothes felt right so he would use them. He walked up to the bed and picked up a piece his self made mission gear.

A holster similar to Kim's for his own hairdryer grapple gun. It clipped on to the thigh strap of his harness and tied to his mid thigh with a nylon strap that reached around his thigh and ended in a clip buckle. He made sure the strap was securely tight. He grabbed his blue grapple gun and put it in the holster, it was held in place by a Velcro strap.

"Alright. Good to go." Ron said, picking up the 'large pack' from the bed. "Lets hope whatever Wade sends will fit in here." He moved to the door but stopped when Rufus started chattering and squeaking. Looking back he saw that he had gone back to the trunk and was dragging something out of it.

"What're you doing?…" He asked before he realized what Rufus was dragging out. "Wait a sec… Dude I can't take that. I've practiced for, what… three weeks? An half-an-hour a day? I'm nowhere near good enough."

"Synthodrones!" Rufus squeaked.

Ron thought for a moment as he sat cross-legged in front of the trunk. _The last lair had been full of those things…odds are there will be plenty at BN HQ. _He grabbed what Rufus had pulled out of the trunk. Rufus for his part dove back into it.

It was a harness he'd made from a backpack. He bought one of those large backpacks with thick, padded shoulder straps, chest clip and padded back and gutted it. He removed the 'pack' part of it, leaving only the straps and padded back. He replaced the plastic clip with a metal one and cut the back in half so that it only covered his upper back. Lastly he attached clip-buckles to the upper right and lower left corners of the back so that they faced each other.

"Ok," Ron conceded. "so it would come in handy against them, but what if I run into henchmen or Shego? I wouldn't want to hurt them accidentally."

In response Rufus just held up something else from the trunk. A double holster for extendable batons he'd made with clips for his belt.

"Oh cmon, I haven't even practiced with those. What am I gonna do with them?" He asked.

"Wing it!" Rufus answered.

"Oh, of course. That easy, huh?" Ron said skeptically. He gave it some thought though. He wasn't at all confident in his hand to hand fighting skills. But with a tool in his hands…he had much more confidence for some reason.

_Might as well I guess… they might come in handy too. _Ron thought.

"Alright, I'll take them too." He said, taking the holster from Rufus. As he started getting up another thought struck him. "You know… maybe I should also take…" Was all he got out before Rufus held up the only 'small pack' he'd made.

"Ok mister know-it-all mole rat." Ron chuckled as he picked up the pack and Rufus jumped on to his shoulder. "Lets go get the stuff then."

Rufus was very pleased with himself. This mission they were going on felt different and he was determined to have Ron take everything that could be useful.

Ron walked out of his room with the packs, holsters and harness and went to the end of the hall. There he reached up and pulled on a string that hung from the ceiling to bring down the stairs to the attic. He went up.

For some reason his parents kept all their extra stuff in the garage instead of the attic, leaving it practically empty. With their permission he took over it for himself a little over a month ago. It was here that he made his new gear and where he'd started training after Mr. P's kidnapping. It was his own Ferret Hole.

It was fairly big. It had one window facing the backyard and three overlooking the front yard and driveway. A fan hanged form the ceiling in the middle of the room. Ron walked to it and pulled on the string that turned on its light.

In front of the back window was wooden desk with three drawers. On it was the sewing machine he had used to make or modify his mission gear. Various strips of material littered the desktop. A plastic storage box was on the floor next to the desk.

In front of the front windows was a large, blue circular sparring mat. Black one inch wide stripes divided it in three equal segments and met in a circle at the center of the mat. To the left of the mat, on the wall opposite the stairs, stood an odd machine. Three black cylinders stood next to each other, the first a few inches over the second and the second a few over the third. They were all six-feet tall with a one-and-a-half foot diameter. They were connected at the bottom to steel arms that were covered in the same material the mat was made from. The bases of the arms lay one on top of the other at the edge of the mat, right where one of the stripes ended. Cables went from behind the bases of the three arms to a touch-screen set to the left in the wall. It was placed at chest height and at an angle.

A few feet to the left of the screen were two workbenches with a wall tool storage hanging on the wall over them. On the wall hanged various weapons, two of each: Bo Staff, Hanbo (half-staff), Nunchaku, Tonfa, Bokken (wooden practice sword) and Extendable Baton. On the benches were various training manuals, one for each weapon, and the equipment needed to take good care of them. On the left most workbench was also a stand that held a katana in its saya (scabbard).

Ron walked straight to the benches and put all his gear in the empty space next to the katana stand. Rufus jumped onto the bench top. Ron stood there for a few seconds, just staring at the weapons on the wall. He hadn't planned on buying any of them in the beginning. But with Kim spending more and more time with Eric, he'd needed something to occupy his mind. Cooking, sowing and writing did nothing to release his pent up energy.

His mind had jumped from one possibility to the next until thoughts of that week he'd spent at Yamanouchi popped into his head. He'd really enjoyed the staff fighting classes there, even though he hadn't been good at them. So that very day he had driven to Smartymart to buy one. As he walked into the 'Martial Arts' department he saw all the other weapons they had there and just couldn't resist.

He removed the extendable batons from the wall pegs they rested on, leaving only the silhouettes he'd drawn into the board, and stepped onto the mat. He extended them with a flick of his wrists then did a few moves he'd read on their self defense manual. He wasn't at all satisfied.

"Are you sure I should take these Rufus?" He asked his companion.

"Uh huh, uh huh." Rufus squeaked, then pulled the holsters towards Ron to emphasize his point.

"Alright, alright." Ron said. "Just asking." Ron wasn't too sure though. He hadn't even planned on buying them until he passed the 'Self Defense' department of Smartymart on his way to the cash register from the 'Martial Arts' department. He saw them, thought they were cool and thought, _Why not. _Plus they were on sale, buy one and get another half off. He wished he could take one of his staves, he'd practiced a bit with them, but he hadn't made a holster for any of them yet. The holsters the batons had come with had only needed slight modifications.

Ron walked back to the benches while retracting the batons into their compact forms. He placed them into the double holster, making sure they were secure. Then he attached it to his belt using the 'small pack' clips on his right hip. Two, clear metallic _clicks_ were heard. Ron gave the double-holster a few pulls to see if they were at all loose… they weren't. His measurements were spot on.

With a satisfied smile he reached for the next piece of equipment he would be taking. They were gifts Master Sensei had given him as thanks for helping Yori rescue him from DNAmy. He had tried to reject the reward but Sensei had insisted. "I am sure you will find them to be of use in the future Stoppable-san." He had said. Ron had pocketed the small package, wondering what he had meant. He'd practiced with them a few times out of curiosity, and liked them. But he'd never thought of actually using them in a mission.

He put them in the 'small pack' he had made especially to carry them and attached it to the 'small pack' clips of his belt above his left hip. He gave it a few pulls like he did the double-holster… the pack was held nice and tight.

Lastly, he turned to the katana.

He had tried to resist. He knew Kim didn't like weapons and buying the others would already be pushing her tolerance. Bladed weapons might be right up there with guns on her book. But he just couldn't resist. He didn't know why. He'd then spent hours 'trying on' the different katana they had before deciding on that one. It didn't feel exactly right, but it was the closest. He wasn't sure why it didn't though, it seemed perfect to him.

He picked it up, grabbing the hilt with his right hand, and unsheathed it. It came out with a sucking sound. Ron looked at the sharp blade with the awe and respect it always inspired in him. It was a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular guard. A groove ran an inch from the point down to the hilt on both sides of the sword. Between the groove and the edge of the blade ran the tempered line, undulating like the sea. It was a beautiful weapon.

_You would have definitely been useful against that mutant octopus tentacle. _He thought, wincing inwardly. Those had been some nasty bruises he found when he'd gotten home. They'd covered the entire right side of his body.

Placing the saya back on the stand he reached behind it to the wall were a second one rested on pegs. The second scabbard was tucked tightly in a sock he'd made out of a rubber material similar to what wetsuits are made of. It took him the better part of two hours to get the scabbard in there. It had two steel clips, one near the mouth and another near the middle, both facing away from each other.

Ron sheathed the katana in it and grabbed the chest harness he'd put next to the sword stand. He clipped the scabbard into the padded back, curve down. It let out two clear metallic _clicks_. He then put on the harness, locking chest clip and making it securely tight. Ron moved his shoulders around, stretched to the right, forward, to the left then back. The pad stayed perfectly on top of his shoulder-blades and didn't hinder his movements. He smiled with pride. He could wear it for hours before he would feel the itch to take it off.

He walked to the sparring mat and stood straight. He slowly reached back with his right hand and grabbed the hilt of the sword. He smiled again, his measurements had been accurate. He could reach the sword easily and comfortably. Ron unsheathed it and got into a combat stance. He performed a few of the katas he'd practiced, doing them slowly and accurately. Almost immediately he noticed a problem.

His oversized mission shirt.

It kept bunching up uncomfortably under the harness. After a finishing a few katas Ron carefully sheathed his sword, nodding at how easily he could do it. With practice he thought he would be able to do it quickly and without having to look.

Ron pulled on his shirt to get it to straighten under the harness. It was an issue, but nothing he needed to worry about. Once he was done he reached back to test the ease with which he could reach the batons. He frowned.

The shirt lay over the top of them, blocking his hand and forcing him to move it out of the way before he could reach them. Even more so with Sensei's gift since the pack was shorter. Now the shirt was a bigger issue. But not one he had time to deal with.

Ron stood straight and took stock of his gear.

Rocket sneakers and their activation gloves.

Blue grapple gun in a holster strapped to his right thigh and harness.

Harness securing his well fitting grey cargo pants with six steel clip-buckles on the back for packs. Four of which were occupied by a double extendable baton holster on his right hip and a specially made 'small pack' on his left hip with Sensei's gift.

Chest harness with thick and padded shoulder straps and a thin padded back covering his upper back.

Lastly a katana attached diagonally right to left, curve down, to the padded back of the harness.

Originally he'd only planned on doing the pants and a few packs. But once the ideas for the chest harness, katana, batons and Sensei's gift entered his mind he hadn't been able to stop himself. Plus the pants were fairly simple modifications, the rest posed a better challenge to his creativity.

Overall he was very pleased with the outcome. The weight and feel of it all was foreign to him. But it was also comforting. He felt prepared for anything. Confident even. The only bad part was the shirt.

"Well… What do you think?" Ron asked Rufus who was sting on the edge of the right-most workbench.

"Wooo!" Rufus squeaked, giving Ron an enthusiastic two thumbs up.

"Lets call this… The Ronman 1.5!" Ron said, striking a Fearless Ferret pose. "Alright, lets get going."

Ron walked to the left bench and picked up the 'large pack' from where he'd put it as Rufus jumped on his shoulder. He walked to the stairs and went down to the second floor, closing the attic as he went. As he walked past his bedroom door he paused, turned around and entered it. Picking through the clothes all over the floor he found the pants he taken off, reached into the back pocket and took out the picture of Kim and him. He looked at it, smiled at the memory and tucked the picture into the pack. He also grabbed his house keys.

He jogged out of the house, making sure to lock the door, and towards the Possible house next door. It'd taken him longer than he thought to get ready. Once there he found the Possible family, except Kim, in the driveway standing around what looked like a metal box with a weird jet-pack on top. Ann was talking to someone on the phone when she saw him approach.

"Oh! Here he comes." Ann said. "Yeah, I'll put him on." She offered the phone to Ron. "It's Wade. He said the mission gear you'll need is inside this. We were waiting for you before opening it." Ron took the phone.

"Yo, Wade. What is this thing?" Ron asked, eyeing the beat up metal box.

"It's a drone." Wade answered. "I put it together using parts of my Wadebot 3.0 that still worked. The gear is inside the cargo pod but its circuits were fried by the Diablo so you'll have to open it using the manual override." Wade went on to explain how to open the pod. Meanwhile the rest of the family stared at Ron. Something seemed different about him. Something other than the sword strapped across his back which definitely drew their eyes. But they couldn't figure out what it was.

"Alright, let see here." Ron said as he sat cross-legged in front of the drone and placed the phone on the ground. Jim and Tim stood at his sides, staring at the sword. James and Ann stood over the three of them.

"Ron?" Tim asked. Standing to Ron's right.

"Hmn?..." Ron said absently as he pawed the left side of the pod, looking for the override.

"Is that real?" Asked Jim. Standing to his left.

"What is?"

"The sword." Tim said, reaching for the hilt and pulling the sword out a few inches.

Ron's right hand quickly reached back and pushed it back into the scabbard.

"Yes. It's very real and very sharp. So no touchy. Kay?... Kay." Ron said.

"Cool." Jim and Tim said at the same time.

"Where'd you get it?" Jim asked.

"Smartymart." Ron answered, continuing his search for the override. "Wade said it was around here somewhere… found it!" Ron said triumphantly as he popped the override. "Ok, so turn it 180⁰ counter-clockwise…" He paused. "How much is 180⁰?"

"Half-turn." He heard in surround sound.

"Right…" Ron turned the override and pushed it back in. The left side door of the pod popped open slightly. "There we go."

"Ronald…" James said, voicing a concern. "Are you sure its…safe…for you to take that sword with you on a mission?"

"Well…" Ron answered. "Drakken's new lair will probably be crawling with those synthodrones we… Kim… fought last time. So Rufus thought we could use an edge."

"Ah…"James said. "I see." He said a bit skeptically.

Ron opened the left side door of the pod then picked the phone back up.

"Okay Wade, its open. So what've we got? Ron asked the genius.

"First take out the case on the top shelf." Wade said.

Ron did so with a bit of effort since the right door was still welded shut. He opened it to see what looked like two toy airplanes without wings and the remains of a third. They were both about eight inches long and lay snuggly in grey foam. They had what looked like wheels on the sides. Two near the front and two more at the tail. A camera lens lay behind an oval hard-plastic window at their front.

"Now what?" Ron asked.

"Pick up the white one and push the button on its underside." Wade instructed.

Ron did so, grabbing the one in the middle. Once out of the foam he noticed that what he'd thought were wheels were actually propellers within a ring like a hovercrafts. They were tucked to the sides of the device by thin arms that connected them to the body. Ron found the button Wade mentioned and pressed it. The four propellers moved a bit away from the body and turned so that they faced the ground.

"Running diagnostics…" Wade said. "All systems good." As soon as Wade finished that sentence the propellers spun and it tore out of Ron's soft grip into the air. It rolled itself right way up and turned quickly to face Ron and the Possibles.

"Badical!" Ron exclaimed, eyes lighting up like a kids on Christmas morning. "Dude what is that thing? And more importantly, does it come with a remote control?" Rufus jumped on Ron's head to get a better look, echoing his excitement.

"Its my new Eagle Eye system." Wade said with pride. His voice came from both the phone in Ron's hand and the EE hovering over the pod. "I designed it so that I could take a more active role on missions, they give me a birds eye view over the area. Plus each one has specific capabilities." He explained.

"The white one you just activated is the mark 2." Wade continued. "It has sonar mapping and radar. It also has decoy capabilities which I'm currently using to communicate with you. So you can hang up Ron." Ron, noticing that he still had the phone to his ear promptly hung up. "The black one still in the case, the mark 1, has powerful scanning capabilities and can either repair or sabotage equipment."

"Cool." Ron and the twins said at the same time.

"How does that one." Ron gestured to the white one. "Work as a decoy? I don't think just a voice would do much against someone like Shego."

"Watch." Wade said.

The EE2 flew to the side of the drone and settled at chest height. A second later a perfect hologram of Kim in her mission outfit hid it.

"No big." It said using Kim's voice. If they hadn't known better all five of them would have sworn that Kim was right there with them. The hologram shifted for a moment then changed into Ron with his normal mission clothes. "Booyah!" It said, using his voice.

"I finally worked the kinks out of my holographic simulator." Wade said, leaving the holo-Ron out.

"Yep, that would do for a decoy." Ron said. He took out the EE1 out of the case and tucked it into his 'large pack'. "What other cool stuff is in there?" He asked, reaching in and taking out a small, round, black container with pink lips on the lid.

"Hmn… knock out gas that looks like lip gloss or lip gloss that looks like lip gloss…" He wondered aloud, opening it. "Augh…" Ron and Tim groaned as their heads went limp. Jim, who luckily stood up wind from the two, closed the lid of the container. Ron and Tim were able to shake off the effects of the gas since they hadn't breathed in too much. "Knock out gas." Ron stated.

The whole scene brought a giggle and a chuckle out of Ann and James respectively. _Never a dull moment around Ron/Ronald. _They both thought, smiling.

"Um… Ron?" Wade said. "Why don't you wait till I tell you what each thing does before you try it out."

"Gotcha, dude." Ron said, still a bit lightheaded. "Rufus. You take handle this semi-dangerous chemical. Never been good with those." He handed the container to Rufus, who had moved to Ron's lap and avoided the fainting spell. He took it and scampered to his designated pocket on Ron's left thigh where he put it away.

"Alright," Ron said, reaching into the pod for the next gadget "what else do we have here?" He brought out what looked like a toy gun.

"Whoa… Wade, I'm not comfortable packing heat." He said, looking the gun over.

"That's an Electro Magnetic Scrambler gun." Wade explained. "If you shoot Drakkens main Command Tower with it a power surge will filter through the signal to all other command towers and to the Diablos. The surge will burn out the cybertronic circuitry, turning it into nothing but normal metal and the Diablos back into simple toys."

"Hmn…" James mused. "Yep, that would just about do the job." He agreed.

"I see… I see…" Ron said. "Actually no I don't, but I'll take your word for it." Ron tried to put it in the pack, but it was too big. He looked at the holster that held his grapple gun and thought for a moment. "Guess I'm going grapple-less this time…" He said to himself. He pulled the grapple out and replaced it with the EMS gun, it fit nicely.

"Oh, don't worry Ron." Wade said. "I've got you covered, pick up the last thing in the middle shelf." Wade told him.

Ron did so and looked at some strange wrist watch. "What is it?" He asked.

"It's a wrist mounted grapple gun I've been working on." Wade answered. "I planned for it to have many more functions but I've only completed the grapple side of it."

"Sweet." Ron said, placing it on his left wrist. "So, is that all?" Ron asked, not seeing anything else in the pod.

"No." Wade said. "There's two more things. They should be in the bottom shelf."

Ron reached in and pulled out a small case and a long piece of black, silky material. He opened the case, inside was what looked like a hearing aid and a device the shape of a quarter with two thin, clear, ribbon-like strips coming out its sides and forming a seamless circle.

"That's a new communication system I've been working on." Wade said, seeing what Ron was looking at through the EE2 that was still hidden under the holo-Ron. "I made it to work together with the Eagle Eye system, so that I could talk to you guys without being overheard."

"Awesome." Ron said. "And this?" He asked, closing the case and holding the piece of soft, black cloth up. It was a lot heavier than it looked.

"That's a shirt." He said. "It's one of the candidates I considered for Kim's new battle-suit. But it doesn't take well to nanobot repair and modification so I decided against it. Its made of a newly developed crystalline material. Its relatively light and can stop any kind of bullet or blade."

"Wow." Ron said. He stood up, found the collar and sleeve of the shirt and checked out the length against his body. "Um… Wade? I think you got my size wrong." The length of the shirt was right, but it was extremely thin. _This would look tight on Kim. _He thought.

"Don't worry." Wade reassured. "It stretches."

"Oh…" Was all Ron could say. He'd never liked tight fitting clothes. He didn't like how they rubbed against his skin whenever he moved. But he was willing to give that a try since Wade had been the one to give it to him. "Ok then, give me a sec to change." He told Wade and the Possibles. He picked up the earphone case and hairdryer/grapple from the floor and headed inside the house. The family followed him inside with the holo-Ron close behind. They stood in the living room as Ron walked down the hall to the downstairs bathroom.

Once there Ron closed the door and put the stuff on the sink countertop. Rufus jumped from his shoulder to the counter. He took off the harness holding his sword. His normal mission shirt and gloves soon followed along with the grapple watch, leaving his upper body with nothing but the bandage on his right forearm.

Ron picked up the shirt and examined it closely, testing its stretchiness. It did, indeed, stretch. It was long sleeved and had a long neck.

"Alright," He told Rufus. "lets get this over with."

With a large amount of effort, Ron put the shirt on. It was so tight that he thought he would suffocate before getting his head out of the turtleneck collar. He was careful with his right arm when it passed through the long sleeves. He undid his pants, pulled the shirt down below his navel and closed his pants over it. He stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, trying to get it to settle. It rubbed uncomfortably against his skin, just like he thought it would.

"Ah man," He complained. "This is going to chafe like…" He paused and moved his upper body again. It didn't rub anymore. In fact, he couldn't even feel it. Only the unusual weight of it and the lack of a refreshing breeze told him he even had a shirt. It clung to his body like a second layer of skin, moving as he moved. He looked at his arm, seeing the material stretch and contract along with his skin. He could see small crystals in the shirt that caught the light as he moved.

He smiled excitedly and put on his sword harness and gloves. He reached back and saw that he could reach the batons and Sensei's gift without problems now. His smile widened.

"Oh yeah!" Ron exclaimed. "The Ronman 2.0 is ready to play!"

"Booyah!" Rufus squeaked excitedly. Ron's enthusiasm seeping into him.

Ron put the grapple watch back on his left wrist and left the bathroom after picking up the earphone case. Rufus jumped to his shoulder. He walked into the living room where they all waited. James and Ann were talking about the repairs that needed to be done, which was nothing new since the twins destroyed parts of the house on a semi-regular basis. Meanwhile Wade, who still hadn't taken off the holo-Ron from the EE2, talked tech with the twins.

"Wade, dude, you seriously came through with the armor shirt man." Ron said. "It was the only part of my new threads I wasn't sure about."

"Whoa…" The Possibles and Wade whispered when they saw Ron. He looked nothing like the Ron they were all used to seeing. Wade approached him with the still hidden EE2 to get a closer look, bringing the holo-Ron closer.

"How does it feel?" Wade asked after a few moments.

"Great!" Ron said, excitedly. "I can barely feel it…dude, can you shut that hologram off? Its kinda freaky talking to an exact replica of myself."

_It looks nothing like you. _The four Possibles all thought at the same time. They couldn't help looking back and forth between the hologram of what Ron normally looked like and how Ron looked at the moment.

The hologram showed Ron as a skinny, slouching boy in clothes two sizes too big. He appeared clumsy and, for lack of a kinder word, weak.

The real Ron was slender but well muscled. The tight-fitting armored shirt all but screamed what his usual clothes hid. They could even see the faint beginnings of a six pack.

Having something to compare Ron to, Ann was finally able to pinpoint the change she had felt earlier. It was his posture. The Ron who usually slouched at all times now stood straight with his shoulders firmly squared. It made him look taller. And she could also see a twinkle of confidence in his eyes, enhancing his ever present mirth. The sword across his back also added a hint of danger to his air.

"Oh! Right. Sorry." Wade apologized. "I forgot I'd turned it on." _I'll need a new scan of Ron for the decoy to work though. _He thought as he turned off the holographic decoy system. The EE2 was revealed and flew a few feet higher.

"No worries." Ron said. He opened the small case to put on the last piece of gear he would be taking with him. He put the earphone into his ear, marveling at how comfortable it felt. "Dude… How do you get this stuff to fit so comfortably? I know we've said this a lot over the years but you rock man."

"He he. Thanks." Wade said. You could hear the slight blush at the praise.

Ron picked up the coin shaped device out of the case and looked at it. "Wade? What's this?"

"That's a microphone for the new system." Wade said.

"Oh." Ron said, tugging a little bit at the thin, transparent ribbons. "How do I put it on?"

"It goes around your neck, like a choker." He answered. "Be sure to put it right over your jugular so that it can read your vitals for me to keep an eye on."

"Ok. And this ribbon thing…"

"Stretches."

"Right." Ron said, pulling the choker ribbon over his head. He peeled the turtleneck of the armor shirt down and placed the microphone where he thought his jugular was. "How's that?"

"Wrong side Ron." Wade answered.

"Oh…" Ron readjusted. "How bout now?"

"Not quite right." He said.

"Here Ron." Ann interrupted. "Let me." She walked towards Ron and reached for the microphone.

"Thanks Mrs. P" Ron said sincerely.

"Anytime." Ann said, finding the vein without trouble. "How's that Wade?"

"Perfect Dr. Possible." Wade said. "Press the button on the side to adjust the straps."

Ann found the button and pressed it gently. The clear ribbon thin straps tightened around Ron's neck, holding the microphone firmly in place.

Ron moved his neck around, he could barely feel it there, just like the earphone. "Sweet." He said simply.

"Ok." Wade instructed. "To turn on the system you need to push firmly on the microphone like a button and hold for four seconds."

Ron did so. At the end of the four seconds he heard a tone from the earphone. "Is it on?" He asked.

"Yep." Wade answered. "Signal is strong and clear." Ron heard him through the earphone in his ear and from the EE2 hovering a few feet from him.

"Alright then." Ron said, pulling the neck of the shirt back up and covering the choker-mic. It covered his entire neck. "Time to get going. Um… How do I turn that off?" He asked gesturing to the EE2. "I don't think it can keep up with the rocket scooter."

"Oh, hold on a sec." Wade said. "Please stand still for a moment. I need to get a new scan of you for the decoy function." The EE2 flew in front of Ron and did a quick scan, starting at his head and moving down to his feet. "Done, the new render should be done by the time you get to BN HQ. Ok now hold out your hand."

Ron did and the EE2 landed neatly on his open palm and tucked its propellers to its side like a bird does its wings.

"Cool." Ron looked around. "Where'd I put my pack?" He asked aloud.

Rufus chattered and pointed to the hallway.

"Ah." Ron said. "Left it." He walked down the hallway to the bathroom.

The Possibles watched him go.

"Ronald seems different." James mused.

"Yeah!" Tim said.

"He's totally cool!" Jim said.

"He does seem well prepared." Ann said, looking down the hallway Ron had just walked down.

"He does, doesn't he." James agreed. "Seeing him prepare like that makes me think we should give him something to take with him too." He added.

Ann thought for a moment. _Couldn't hurt. _She thought. "That's a good idea honey. I'll be right back. Don't let Ron leave just yet." She said, and went to the master bedroom.

"Okey-doke." James said.

A minute later Ron came back, holding his pack and hairdryer grapple.

"Hey, guys." He said to the twins. "You mind holding on to this till I get back?" He asked, offering the grapple.

"Sure." They said. Tim grabbed it. They both looked at it then started whispering about how they could modify it. Ron wondered if he'd made a mistake.

"Alright." He said. "Time to get going."

"Wait a moment Ronald." James said. "Ann wanted to give you something before you left."

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Really." Ann said, standing behind him. She handed him a small box with a red cross on it.

"It's a first aid kit I put together myself for Kim and the boys." She explained. "Just in case."

Ron looked down at the box then gave Ann the warmest smile he was capable of.

"Thanks Mrs. P." He said and gave her a tight hug that she returned.

Ron placed the kit in his pack and zipped it closed. He clipped it on the clips in the small of his back, between the batons and Sensei's gift. It gave two metallic _clicks._ Ron gave it a few tugs to make sure it was secure. It was. And with that he was all set.

He walked out of the house to his scooter which was parked in front of the garage. He mounted it and put his helmet on. Rufus got into his pocket to take a nap so that he would be rested by the time they got there. Ron hit the ignition and the bike came to life swiftly. The rockets on its sides gave a low hum.

"Be careful Ronald." James said, showing his concern.

"No worries Mr. P" Ron said.

"Good luck!" The twins said.

Ron gave the family a bright smile and twisted the throttle. The rockets flared to life, propelling the scooter down the road. Ron headed for the freeway that lead west towards Bueno Nacho Headquarters.

Ann stood there, looking down the road Ron had just taken. She had very worried look on her face.

"Don't worry hon." James said, seeing the look on her face. "I'm sure Ronald and Kimmie-cub will come back fine. Just like they always do." He tried to reassure his wife.

"Yeah." She said. "You're right." But still she worried.

_Something is changing. _Ann thought as she turned to follow her husband inside. _I can feel it._

**_To Be Continued.._**

* * *

How many of you were ticked off that Kim got a battle-suit in STD then new mission clothes in season 4 while Ron got nothing? I know I was, so I gave him a little something here.

Ron is armed and ready. How will he handle himself?

What's harder to resist, a puppy-dog-pout or a fluffy-kitten-pout?

Next chapter will be up when I finish writing it so... till next time!


	5. The Storm

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing if you saw it on Kim Possible. The plot is mine though. Any resemblance to any other show about a swordsman weaving mechanical mayhem is completely coincidental.

**A/N: **Here it is, chapter 5! Sorry it took so long. Life and its meddlesome ways kept me away from my writing. But here it is! A bit of a long-ish chapter and I'll probably try to shorten it in the future. But any changes will be in dialogue and sequence of events, not in direction of this story so no worries.

Thanks to all readers and reviewers, especially Daccu65. Thanks to his review the first scene in this chapter came to be and many others I will be posting later.

And so on with the show! And for the record... I really cant resist either puppies or kittens so I cant really say which melts your insides faster.

As always please read, review and, above all, enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Storm**

_**-Middleton High School: Gym-**_

Kim sat down at their table holding a pair of drinks. She was flushed and sweaty from dancing.

She was having the time of her life. Prom was becoming everything she had hoped it would be and more. Eric was an amazing dancer in addition to being smart, athletic, and a certified hottie. He was, she thought again, perfect.

Kim put her drinks down and looked across the table to Monique, who kept looking around while sipping her drink.

"Looking for something?" Kim asked.

"Yes." She answered. "I'm keeping an eye out for the SLG. Proms are a gold mine."

Kim thought for a moment. "Summers Latest Gossip?"

"Got it in one, girl." Monique said, still looking around. She spotted Bonnie, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Someone seems to be choking on her words."

Kim glanced at the scowling brunette.

"It gets better every time I look." Kim said with a satisfied smile.

"What does?" Eric asked, sitting next to Kim with two plates of food.

"Just you." She said, smiling at him and taking her plate.

"I'm not the only one." Eric smiled back before he started eating his food. "Man, this stuff is great!" He said after a few bites.

"Ron can cook better." Kim said absently. She paused, fork half way to her mouth. She put it down and looked around for her best friend. It was the first time he had entered her mind that day.

"Really?" Eric asked. From what he'd seen, Ron wasn't very good at…well…anything. The trained mole rat was the only cool part.

"Oh yeah." Monique said after eating some of her own food. "Boy is Picasso with an eggbeater. Speaking of Naco-boy, he totally flaked prom."

"Probably got caught up on some new game." Kim said. She was a bit worried about him, of course. He was, after all, her best friend. But such thoughts were buried deep in the back of her mind by the perfect night at prom with her BF and rubbing Bonnie's nose in it. She glanced at the brunette again and smiled.

They continued eating. Afterwards Kim and Monique talked about the how the dance was going and about all the different dresses the girls had worn.

Eric just sat back and relaxed. After they were rested he led Kim back to the dance floor for a third round. Monique sat for a while longer, observing. She smiled at the couple before she noticed something strange.

"That's an awful lot of phone calls…" She mused. A fairly large number of the other students or their dates answered their cell phones either at the same time or a few minutes apart. They all looked confused, some a little worried. All of them mouthed the word 'no' at some point near the end of their conversations. One of the girls walked past her table.

"…giant robot?" She asked the person on the other end. "What are you talking about? No, nothing has happened here…" She continued walking.

_Giant robot? _Monique wondered. _What's that about?… _She shrugged the question out of her mind. Middleton, she knew, was full of odd sights. She headed out to the dance floor to have a good time.

_**-Highway: Heading West-**_

Ron rocketed down the highway, savoring the speed. He had always loved bikes, the feel of the wind on his body as he rode. This, however, was the first time his scooter had ever gone this fast and he loved every second of it.

_Bugs are a problem though. _He thought, as another one smacked against his face. They had never been an issue before since he always rode at slow speeds. He resolved to buy a full face helmet like the one Eric had.

The end of that thought brought a frown out of him which he easily pushed back into a smile as he lost himself in the pleasure of the ride. He was brought out of his musings by strange sounds coming from the earphone in his ear.

"Moving stuff around Wade?" He asked.

"Just replacing some of my destroyed monitors." Wade answered. "I'll need more than what's left if I'm going to be able to assist you efficiently. I'm using the upstairs flat screen so I need to do some rewiring."

"Ah." Ron said. "The Diablo really tore your place up, huh."

"Yeah… It really did."

Ron could hear the sadness in his voice. He did not like it there, not at all.

"Hey." He said. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you can rebuild anything that was destroyed. Probably even make it better than it was before. And you know you can count on me for anything… just…give me a heads up before you send me something to Guiney pig for you. Deal?"

"Deal." Wade said, smiling a bit as his mind filled with possibilities. He stopped in his rewiring and looked at his room. His eyes lingered on the wrecked holo-projector.

"You know." He said, thinking aloud. "I have been thinking about modifying my projector so that I could use it to make 4D models of my prototypes that I could freely manipulate."

"You mean like what the lead in '_Tech-Armor Guy_' had?" Ron asked after thinking for a few seconds.

"Precisely!" Wade said, very excited at the prospect. "That was so cool. I've wanted to make one ever since I saw the movie. But since I would have to completely redesign and replace my projector I never got around to it."

"Well there you go." Ron said. "Now that you_ have _to rebuild it, remake it."

"Yeah!" Wade said, a bit giddy with anticipation. He went back to rewiring the large flat-screen with a large smile on his face. Meanwhile the back of his mind went over what he would need to build the new projector. Which parts he would need to order and those he had to make himself.

Ron smiled to himself. _Booyah! Score one for the Middleton Mad Dog._

Ron continued to enjoy his ride, passing cars as if they were standing still instead of doing 60mph on the highway. Wade continued to rewire the TV, linking it to his systems, enjoying it like only a techie could. Once he was done he sat down and started spreading his displays around his two remaining monitors and the TV. The monitors were to his front and to his left at an angle. The TV stood to his right and a bit further away than the monitors since it was bigger.

_Alright then. _Wade thought. _Center monitor will be for the EE display. Half the left monitor for Ron's vital data, both from the neck-phone and microchip, the rest for whatever searches I might need to do. Map of the lair will be on the TV._

Wade typed in all the commands he needed to. Since Ron wasn't at the lair yet he brought up a map that showed his current position and speed of travel. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Ron," He said. "Do you know how fast you're going?"

"Not at all." Ron answered. "But I'm liking it."

"Ron…" Wade said, cautiously. "You're going at 150mph. At your current speed you'll be there in approximately twenty minutes."

"Sweet." Ron said. "Making good time then."

"I'll say. You're making a hundred mile trip in a little over a half an hour."

"That a record?" Ron asked.

"No." Wade answered

"Bummer."

They continued the trip in a companionable silence. Ron enjoying his ride and Wade making small modifications to his system as they came to him. He set the Kimmunicator program to keep trying to contact Kim in the background. He'd never said he would stop calling her. The moment she answered he would tell her what was going on and send her his way.

After a few minutes of silence the TV gave a notification.

"Ron." Wade said, sitting a little straighter. "Your exit is coming up."

"I see it." Ron answered. He slowed the scooter down to a more reasonable speed as he neared it. As soon as he took that turn Bueno Nacho Headquarters came into view, still a few miles away.

_**-Bueno Nacho HQ: Command Room-**_

Drakken strolled into his command room. He'd finally grown so utterly bored in his CEO office that he came to see the status of the operation first hand. He wasn't used to all this waiting.

"Shego!" He yelled as he entered the room. "Is Middleton ours yet?" He asked with a big, evil smile.

"Nope." She answered. She typed in a few commands into her console and studied a video it played.

"What?" Drakken followed up, clearly bemused. "What do you mean? I told you to bring Middleton online! Why haven't you!" He snapped at her.

"Hey!" Shego paused the video and glared daggers at her boss. Drakken was cowed instantly. "I did bring the tower online so don't get snippy with me!"

"Ok, ok." Drakken said, making calming gestures with his hands. "So…um." He swallowed. "Why isn't Middleton ours yet then? Since… like you said…the tower was activated."

Shego frowned. Drakken took a few steps back.

"I've been trying to figure that out." She said at last, turning back to her screen. "The tower was destroyed. I don't know how and Lars isn't answering his phone."

"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled, throwing is hands to the heavens as if cursing them.

"Is still at the dance." Shego said smoothly, switching videos. "Already checked in with the surveillance henchman."

Drakken kept the pose for a second before he brought his arms down, not sure what to do with them.

"Huh?" Was all he could say.

"Someone else destroyed the tower." She elaborated. "I'm still trying to find out who." She closed the video file and opened the next one. "It would be easier if you had installed some more security cameras instead of leaving the ones that were already there. They only cover the inside of the restaurant."

"Do you have any idea how much that would cost?" Drakken asked her.

"Great." Shego said. "The world in the palm of our hands and we fail cause your too cheap to buy one camera to keep an eye on the tower."

"Over thirty-thousand cameras, Shego." Drakken explained. "Then add the manual labor for installing each one and…" Drakken continued his rant while Shego ignored him and examined the surveillance footage.

"Bah!" Shego said, breaking Drakken out of his ranting. "None of the cameras have a good enough angle on the tower. All they show is a few Diablos moving around outside before they deactivate." She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she thought. Her eyes snapped open as an idea came to her.

"Bring up a map showing the location of all the Diablos in Middleton five seconds before the tower went offline." She ordered the many henchmen manning the control room. They hurried to comply. In seconds the map was on the big screen of the room, it showed the city with many yellow dots that represented each Diablo.

"Zoom in on the Bueno Nacho." She ordered. "Ok, now show me what happened in those last five seconds."

The henchmen typed in the commands. All in the room watched as two of the dots moved quickly towards the restaurant and seemed to run over the command tower a second before it went offline.

"Oh good." Shego said. "The Diablos took themselves out. Looks like your great plan is crumbling on its own Dr. D."

"They are obviously chasing something." Drakken said, ignoring her jibe and tucking his hands behind his back. He walked up to Shego and stood next to her as he examined the screen.

"Hmn." He hummed, deep on thought. "Show us the location of those two Diablos when the tower was activated." He ordered.

The henchmen complied. The map changed to a residential neighborhood showing the Diablos inside a house. The two dots started moving around the house when the command signal was broadcast. The rest of the dots in the area moved out of the houses they were in started moving towards the two.

"That's Possible's house…" Shego realized.

"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled again.

"Is at the dance, remember." Shego told him. "Those Diablos are attacking someone..." She mused aloud. "Explain to me again, why can't we see what the robots are seeing?"

"There're too many of the Diablos." Drakken said. "The amount of information that we would receive from them would be too large for our servers to handle and would slow us down to a crawl. We wouldn't be able to take over a taco stand. Therefore that information is stored within the Diablos, where it can be extracted at a later time."

"Right." Shego sighed. She thought for a few minutes. "Zoom out a bit, show me a wider area." She ordered and they obeyed.

"Look." She told Drakken, gesturing at the screen.

"What?" He asked, looking at the screen. He squinted a bit as he noticed a pattern. "The Diablos… They are moving towards two specific locations, aren't they?"

"Yep." Shego confirmed. "I set them to make the sidekick and nerdlinger their priorities. That," She pointed at a house with one dot to which all nearby dots were moving towards. "must be nerdlinger's house. And that means that these two" She gestured to the two dots which had moved outside the house. "must be attacking the sidekick."

"The buffoon?" Drakken asked, incredulously. "You're saying the buffoon destroyed my tower? Impossible, the Diablos would've stopped him."

"Not if he had the princess's family to help him." Shego countered, looking at the two dots as they mulled around outside the Possible residence. "Oh! There they go." She said as the two dots sped away from the house, all the dots in the area immediately changed their direction and followed at a slower pace.

All in the command room watched as the two dots sped through the neighborhood and then through town to the Bueno Nacho, where they ran over the command tower.

"Curse that lippy family!" Drakken said shaking a fist at the screen.

At that moment an alarm sounded. The words **PROXIMITY ALERT **flashed on the big screen. The henchmen all started typing commands into their consoles, first silencing the alarm then replacing the map on the screen with a video feed that showed an empty road.

"Report!" Drakken barked at the henchmen.

"One vehicle detected coming in fast off the highway." One of the henchmen said. "ETA one minute."

"Kim Possible!" Drakken yelled… again.

"Would you stop with that." Shego complained.

"Sorry." Drakken apologized. "This whole 'distraction worked' thing is really throwing me off."

"Don't worry." Shego comforted. "I'm sure something will happen to ruin your plan, then everything will feel right again."

"Yes." Drakken agreed. "I'm sure you're ri… Hey!" Drakken glared at a grinning Shego.

Any ranting Drakken would have done at that moment was put on hold when some weird bike and its rider appeared on the screen and sped past the camera.

"Who is that?" Drakken asked as the camera was switched to another one further down the road. They watched the man on the bike ride past it again.

"No idea." Shego said, clearly curious. The camera switched again, this time to one hanging on a pole just above the guard house next to the entryway.

They all watched as the mysterious intruder rode in and parked his vehicle, which they now saw was a rocket-propelled scooter, next to the sidewalk and stepped off. He stood there for a few seconds before taking out a strange object from one of the packs on his belt. He fiddled with it before the device took off into the air and hovered a few feet above him.

"What is this!" Drakken complained. "I thought Kim Possible was the only heroic meddler in Middleton!"

"Obviously not." Shego said as she took control of the camera. She rotated it and zoomed in on the mystery man's back, showing the sword across it. "Looks like he's armed." She noted, moving the camera to look at the device hovering in the air. "And has gadgets of his own."

The intruder walked over to the side of the building where he pointed his left wrist up and shot a small projectile from his watch to the roof of the building. He then proceeded to hoist himself up.

"Shego." Drakken said, clearly annoyed at this intrusion. "Tell the Sumo Ninja to go and…greet... our new guest. Also, send synthodrones series 600 through 800. Just in case. Let us teach this new upstart who he is messing with."

"Gotcha." Shego did as she was told. Normally she would make some sarcastic remark, but this time she was curious as to what this apparently new hero could do. And the sumo plus synthodrones were a perfect way to find out.

"And you!" He pointed at a random henchman. "Go get us some popcorn and drinks. No reason not to enjoy a show before my ultimate victory over Kim Possible and the world." Drakken sat down on his comfortable command chair at the back of the room to wait for the snacks. "Oh, and Shego? Tell them to capture him alive if they can. I need a test subject for my new torture room."

_**-Bueno Nacho HQ: Outside-**_

Ron parked his scooter next to the sidewalk leading up to the main entrance of BN HQ. Stepping off, he stood there for a few moments looking at the large building. The far side of the building was shaped like a taco, lettuce and everything. It was the tallest part of the building and had many windows, so it wasn't just a prop.

"That is the biggest taco I've ever seen." He said, taking the EE2 out of his pack and activating it. It flew out of his hand and hovered a few feet above his head. "The sombrero opposite it is normal though."

"It is." Wade agreed, seeing it for himself. "Why would they build that?" He wondered.

"Who wouldn't want to work in a giant taco?" Ron asked, as if it was the most obvious thing. He started walking towards the nearest wall. "Ok, how do you work this thing?" He asked, examining his wrist grapple once he reached the wall.

"Green button activates it." Wade explained. "Red button fires the grapple and retracts it."

"Alright." He said, pressing the green button. A small three-clawed grapple popped out the front of the large watch. "Let's get started." He pointed it towards the roof of the building and fired. He gave the thin line a few tugs to make sure it was secure then pressed the red button again.

The watch hoisted him up at the same speed as his hairdryer grapple. As soon as his feet left the ground he felt an extremely familiar pulling sensation from his pants. Glancing down he noticed that they were still held firmly in place by his harness and thigh-holster.

_Success!_ Ron thought, smiling. _No more on mission de-pantsing. _No sooner had he finished that thought that the watch-grapple started making odd sounds. A few feet from the roof's railing it gave a shrill metallic screech and stopped pulling him up. Ron dangled like a hooked fish for a few seconds before he spoke.

"Wade?" He said, looking at the watch.

"Sorry." Wade said, a little embarrassed. "It's a prototype, I was still working on it."

"Ok." Ron said, looking at the wire thin line that held him. "I'll finish this climb old school."

_That will cut right through these gloves. _He concluded. _Cut…_ Ron looked at his forearm which was covered by the long sleeve of his new lightweight armor shirt. "Let's test this out too then."

Before Wade could ask what he meant, Ron brought his legs up and pushed himself away from the wall until it looked like he was standing on it. Pulling himself up with his left hand Ron took a right-step forward and snaked his right arm around the wire. Once it was tight he pulled himself up with his right arm and did the same thing with his left. Had he not been wearing the shirt the wire would have dug deep into his arms.

Once it was the right hand's turn again he was able to reach the railing and hoist himself over.

He untangled his arms and took off the malfunctioning watch so he could pull back his left sleeve and see if there was any damage done. There wasn't even a scratch on his arm.

"Cool." Ron said, impressed.

"Isn't it?" Wade said. "You should see the new synthetic-skin material I used for Kim's battle suit though. The technology is amazing."

"Hmn." Ron said as he looked around the roof for the large air ducts that were always present in large buildings like these. After finding them he proceeded to infiltrate the new lair with a practiced ease that could only come from experience. Wade piloted the EE2 in after him.

After ten minutes of crawling around the ducts they finally found an opening. Peering out of it Ron made sure there was no one around before kicking it open and dropping to the floor. He was in a dimly lit hallway with many doors.

"Ok, were in." Ron said, standing up straight. "Which way do we go?"

"Give me a moment." Wade said. A moment later the EE2 made some high pitched sounds. "And… sonic-mapping complete. As far as I can tell the only people in the entire building are located in a circular room on the top floor. That must be the command room. The only stairs that reach it are on the Taco side of the building. There also appears to be one large signature moving around the upper floors.

"Lead on then, my friend." Ron said, gesturing towards one end of the hallway.

"This way." Wade said, piloting the EE2 in the opposite direction.

Wade led Ron through the empty hallways of BN HQ and down a flight of stairs to the ground floor. After walking through more empty hallways he turned a corner and went through some double doors into a vast room with a high ceiling in the shape of an arch. The wall that faced the outside was almost completely covered in glass windows. Taking a few steps forward he looked up and noticed that many of the upper floors had bridges that connected a hallway to the glass wall.

"The stairs to the top floor are on the opposite side of this room." Wade informed Ron.

Ron started walking along the wall towards the stairs he could see on the other side of the building when he noticed something. He gave a sort of strangled gasp.

"What?" Wade inquired.

"Look." Ron whispered.

"What?" Wade asked again, moving the EE2 every which way looking for whatever could've brought this kind of reaction out of Ron.

Ron walked towards a large picture frame that hung on the wall. It held a black and white picture of a restaurant with glass walls in the front, two large arches at opposite ends and a giant man in a sombrero holding a 'Bueno Nacho' sign.

"The first Bueno Nacho." Ron said in a choked up voice. "Where it all started. Opened November 15, 1969 in San Diego, California by Nico Bueno. A true pioneer who immigrated to the US with nothing but his name, a suit case and a love for his home countries food."

Ron wiped a tear from his eye as Wade rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Wade." Ron said, standing next to the frame and facing the EE2. "Take a picture."

"Don't worry Ron." Wade said. "The EE2 automatically records everything it sees on my system so…" Wade noticed some odd movement from the large signature on the top floor. It stood on one of the bridges that overlooked the large room. Suddenly it appeared to fly off it alongside the wall heading straight for Ron. "Ron! Incoming!" He said quickly as he piloted the EE2 away from the wall and angled it towards the approaching sonic-signature.

"What?" Ron asked confusedly. Then he remembered where he was and, more importantly, why. "Where?" He asked, getting into a slight crouch. He brought his right hand back to rest on his batons, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

Before Wade could answer him Ron heard the sound of concrete-crushing footsteps coming from above. He looked up in time to see the Sumo Ninja jump off the wall he'd just run down. He landed in front of Ron, crushing the marble floor and twirling a nunchuck around with trained ease.

"You will fall before my might!" The Sumo Ninja declared in a squeaky voice.

Ron stared that the behemoth of a man for a few seconds before a snort and giggle escaped him. The Sumo Ninja took advantage of his distraction and grabbed him by the shirt. He lifted Ron up the slammed him painfully against the wall next to the picture frame. "Ugh!" Ron stopped giggling and reached for his batons.

"What?" The Sumo Ninja asked.

Ron's hand froze inches from his batons.

"Dude." He chuckled, unable to hold back. "Don't talk. I can't take you seriously with that voice."

The Sumo Ninja squinted at the sound of Ron's voice. He sounded just like…

"You!" He said angrily, eyes flaring. "I am strong like the mountain!" He said, lifting Ron high in the air as if he weighed nothing.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed as he was violently brought back down and across when the Sumo Ninja struck some weird running man pose.

"I am swift like the wind!" He declared again.

"I am…" He started, slamming Ron back on the wall. "Ugh!" Ron groaned painfully.

"…Vengeance!" He finished, bringing his face close to Ron's so that he could see the rage he felt.

Rufus, having been woken by his friend's ragdoll treatment, quickly assessed the situation and acted. He ran up Ron with the knock-out gas lip-gloss and stood on the Sumo Ninjas hand. There he took a deep breath and opened the container. Ron, having learned from his earlier encounter with the stuff, held his breath too.

"Vengeance!…will…" The Sumo Ninja started feeling light headed. "…be…oi?" His grip on Ron's shirt lessened as he lost consciousness and fell backward to the ground with a loud crash. Ron landed in a crouch and looked over his defeated enemy with Rufus on his shoulder. He had the container securely closed in his paws.

"Nice save Rufus." Ron said, rubbing his back with his left hand. He could feel a sword-sheath shaped bruise forming. "You've definitely earned that post mission cheese."

"Booyah!" Rufus exclaimed.

"Ron!" Wade said, bringing the EE2 close to his friend. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Ron answered. "Just a few bruises, no big. Lets finish this." He began walking towards the stairs that led to the top with the EE2 hovering close behind.

The first segment led to a bridge at second floor height which was connected to the third floor by escalators. The second segment started on the side opposite the first on the bridge, doubled back on itself and reached another bridge at fourth floor height. It was connected to the fifth and last floor by escalators.

When Ron was halfway to the stairs he heard some odd thuds behind him. "What was…" He began, turning around and seeing what was making the sounds.

Many synthodrones had suddenly appeared behind him, and more seemed to be falling from the bridges above. The all moved towards him menacingly.

"Wade?" He asked, fear growing. "No 'incoming' for this one?" He took a few steps back until he heard the same thuds coming from behind him again. Glancing back he saw even more synthodrones coming from the very stairs he'd been heading towards. Some took the time to run down them, others simply jumped the railing of the lower bridge.

Wade spun the EE2 side to side, taking in the horde of synthodrones that had simply materialized.

"But… I don't…" Wade stuttered looking at his sound-wave made map and more specifically the sonic-radar function of the EE2. It only showed signatures for the people currently in what he believed to be the command room and for the Sumo Ninja. No one else appeared on it yet the synthodrones were there, quickly encroaching on Ron's position. Wade's mind worked frantically, searching for the explanation. He quickly found it and typed in the commands he thought would fix it. His faced paled as all of the synthodrones appeared on the map. There were many. How many he couldn't be sure because they were all too close together to tell.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I hadn't thought to teach the EE2 to detect sythodrones as well as people."

"Honest mistake." Ron gulped. "No worries…" He glanced back and forth between the two still growing groups of enemies. "Ok, maybe a few worries."

Rufus, spotting the danger, scampered down into the relative safety of his pocket.

Ron reached behind him and closed his right hand around the hilt of his katana. Slowly, he unsheathed the weapon and held it to his side.

"Um…" He tried to swallow, but his throat felt too dry. "I don't suppose you guys would be willing to talk this over?" The drones didn't even acknowledge his words.

He was majorly scared. But fear was common for him. It had never crippled him like the panic most of his phobias induced. And even those he hadalmost completely mastered. Currently there was only one phobia left that could still cripple him and, thankfully, synthophobia wasn't it.

Did he feel ready? No.

Did he think he could win? He was both hopeful and doubtful.

The synthodrones quickly surrounded him. The first line formed a circle with him at its center and began to close in.

The moment he judged them all to be within range of his blade Ron dropped down and did a move resembling a leg-sweep. The only difference was that his sword was extended most instead of a leg. When he was done with his spin, eight synthodrones deflated into piles of goo due to large cuts on their stomachs.

Ron remained where he was, crouched low with one hand on the floor. He twirled the sword in his hand so that the back of it ran parallel to his forearm and brought it closer to his body. His eyes where wide and fierce as he waited for the rest to make their move.

Seeing what had happened to the ones that had circled the intruder, the rest of the synthodrones reassessed his threat level and approached him more cautiously.

_**-BN HQ: Command Room-**_

"Useless!" Drakken exclaimed, throwing a fistful of popcorn at the large screen, as he saw the Sumo Ninja go down. _The upstart didn't even lift a finger!_ "Why did we even hire that fat man?" He asked.

"You thought we needed more muscle." Shego replied, staring at the screen intently. She, too, was confused as to why the Sumo Ninja had gone down without the intruder throwing a single strike.

"Well." Drakken said. "Remind me to add 'usefull' to the ad next time. And where are the… ah. There they are." He said as the synthodrones started dropping behind the intruder from the upper floors. They saw as the intruder took a few steps back from them before noticing the ones that were coming down behind him. Drakken sat back comfortably.

"Lets see how you deal with them." Drakken mocked as the synthodrones quickly surrounded him and began to approach. "They won't go down as easily as… Ah!" He exclaimed in despair as eight synthodrones were turned into piles of goo in a second. "My toys!"

All in the command room watched as the mysterious intruder fought the horde of synthodrones sent to subdue him. He seemed to weave through their attacks. He barely dodged each strike sent his way by ducking under them, vaulting over them or barely moving his body in time. Yet after each evasion he struck with his blade, cutting off limbs and slicing open stomachs and chests. Each stroke turned another drone into a pile of syntho-goo.

Unfortunately for him, he was vastly outnumbered. Eventually he was caught by a foot as he tried to vault himself over a downward punch. Before he could fall the synthodrone whipped him over and slammed him into the ground then whipped him up again and threw him towards the stairs. He fell hard on his stomach and slid a few feet. He'd somehow managed to keep a hold of his sword.

"That's it!" Drakken cheered, throwing some more popcorn on the floor. "Kick him while he's down!"

The intruder rolled on to his back and saw the drones coming at him from his front and from the stairs. He made a handstand leap on to the shoulders of the one coming from the stairs just as the second one tried to pin him down. Just as he landed on its shoulders he sliced open its chest and leapt away with a flip before it deflated. He sliced the second drones head vertically while upside down.

"No!" Drakken complained.

The intruder landed back in the midst of the remaining drones and slipped slightly on the goo that covered a large part of the area around him. One of the drones took advantage of this and got close, planting a devastating kick to his chest that sent him flying sword and all. He landed in the waiting arms of the Sumo Ninja, who had woken up unbeknownst to anyone. The Sumo Ninja gripped him in a tight bear hug and tried to crush the consciousness out of him.

"Yes!" Drakken said triumphantly.

"Shut up!" Said a very annoyed Shego. "They can't hear you so watch quietly."

Drakken crossed his arms and grumbled but otherwise remained quiet.

They watched as the intruder struggle to free himself from the giants grip to no avail. He then bent forward as if about to lose consciousness. They all thought it was over until he whipped his upper body back violently and struck the Sumo Ninja square in the face with a powerful headbutt. The giants grip slacked as he went down for the second time.

"Agh!" Drakken yelled in frustration, more than half his synthodrones had already fallen to this mysterious new meddling hero. From the looks of things the ones that remained would soon follow. "Shego! Take three of the new 900's and deal with this nuisance…harshly."

"On it." Shego replied, getting up and pointing to three of the latest synthodrones Drakken had developed. "You, you and you. Come with me."

"Understood." The three of them replied and moved to obey.

Shego walked out of the room and into the hallway that led to the Activities Room where the new hero was fighting in. Watching him in action had really gotten her blood boiling. She was itching for a fight.

_I am going to enjoy this. _She thought as she walked purposefully down the hallway.

_**-BN HQ: Activities Room-**_

Ron dropped to the ground as the Sumo Ninja fell on his back for the second time, unconscious.

He looked at the approaching synthodrones, thinking about what to do next when something at the back of his head claimed most of his attention.

"Oh man that hurt." He said rubbing the back of his head, where he'd hit the Sumo Ninja, with his free left hand. "That's gonna leave a bump for sure." He made sure he didn't close his eyes in pain like he wanted to. He couldn't afford to take his eyes off them and be caught off guard.

The fight had gone a way he would never have imagined. First he didn't expect to face this many synthodrones. The abandoned lair had only had fourteen. So far he had taken down…ok, he hadn't had brain space to spare on counting but he was pretty sure it was more than that.

Secondly, he'd imagined using some of those cool looking poses he read about in his manual. He hadn't. In fact he couldn't even remember one. From the moment this fight started he had improvised, using whatever movement his instincts suggested. Using one-handed strikes instead of the two-handed ones the manual taught.

He had never been one for planning, more often than not relying on his dumb skill to pull him through. But this was ridiculous, how long could he keep barely dodging those hits before one landed?

That thought had proven prophetic. No sooner had he had it than he'd been caught. The hits he'd received for that encounter and the slip afterwards had been hard. Anymore and he'd be done.

_I need room to think. _He thought. Looking past the drones that were inching cautiously towards him he saw the stairs that had been his earlier goal. An idea popped into his head. Seeing as how his instincts had kept him mostly unharmed so far he decided to go with it. _They'd never see me coming._

Ron firmly pressed the blue button on his right glove, activating his rocket skates. Two seconds later he was propelled towards the approaching drones. Unprepared for his massive increase in speed they failed to react as he zigzagged through them, cutting down those he passed near. Once past them he continued on towards the stairs, jumping on the wide concrete hand rails. Once near the top Ron deactivated the skates and jumped on the bridge.

When he landed he slipped and fell hard on his butt.

"Ow, wha…" He looked down at his feet to see why he had slipped and saw that they were coated in green syntho-goo. _Must've run through all the goo on the floor. _He concluded. Getting up unsteadily he waddled on his slippery feet towards the railing to see where the drones were and how many were left.

_Five left. _He saw, to his relief. He also noticed something odd. They were all running towards him just like he had expected, but they were coming for him in single file. One a few feet behind the other. Another wild idea popped into his head as they reached the foot of the stairs and again he went with it.

He waddled to the stairs and vaulted himself onto the railing, putting as much momentum as he could into it. Sliding down the railing using the goo on his feet Ron gripped his sword with both hands and prepared to slice through them all as they ran up to get him.

He got the first two easily but the third had enough time to react and attack. Ron flipped over it as it crushed a part of the railing and managed to cut part of its head off before he got out of range. He landed on the other railing and slid the rest of the way down. At the bottom he continued to slide for a few seconds before his shoes ran out of goo to slide on. Looking back he saw that the two remaining drones were already charging down towards him.

Following instinct again, he charged towards them too while changing his grip on the sword so that his thumb faced the hilt. Feet before he and the lead drone collided Ron slowed his pace while the drone threw a downward punch. The drone punched empty air and Ron stabbed right through its arm, pinning it as he rolled onto the drone using it as a pivot. Once it supported all of his weight he, for the first time, let go of is sword. He rotated his wrist and grabbed it again so that his thumb faced the blade. Channeling all his strength and the momentum of his somersault into his arm he sliced open the first drones forearm and brought it down on the second drone diagonally.

The drone's top half slid to the floor while the bottom fell backwards. The one now behind Ron turned and tried to do a backhand strike with its other arm but lost too much sytho-goo to remain operational.

Ron quickly turned around, ready to dodge another attack he believe was coming. When none came he started looking all over for the next drone. It was a full ten seconds before he remembered those had been the last two.

He'd won.

_I won. _He thought. Another two seconds passed as that thought sunk in.

"Booya-aaack!" Ron said as he slipped on the sytho-goo spilled by the last two drones and fell, tapping his head on the bottom step of the stairs.

"Ow!" He cried, almost in tears. "Right on the bump…"

"Ron!" Wade said, bringing the EE2 down from the safe height he had kept it at. "Are you ok?" Wade was extremely surprised. He had expected Ron to put up a bit of a fight, take down a few drones with his sword then get captured. He had already been working on a way to help him escape. Instead he saw him as he tore through all of them and win.

"Yeah, yeah." Ron answered as he got back up, rubbing the back of his head tenderly. "I'll be alright."

Rufus climbed out of his pocket and stood on Ron's shoulder rubbing his head gently.

Wade's question made Ron do a mental inventory of his hurts. He was sweaty, panting and his head was throbbing of course. His back hurt and so did his chest where he'd been kicked. But by far the worst was his right forearm. The cut on it stung as if on fire. Raising it he noticed that it was trembling under the weight of his sword and his grip felt weaker.

"After one or two weeks." He corrected. _I should probably stop using it for a while._ Ron thought as he sheathed his sword with a soft squish.

_Squish?_ He wondered, glancing back at it. He saw a globule of goo all around the guard. _Gross. _He thought, reaching back and removing it.

"Were did you learn to fight like that?" Wade asked, brimming with curiosity.

"Learned?" Ron chuckled. He started back up the stairs while trying to flick the goo from his hand and failing. "I used nothing of what I little I learned. I winged myself through that like a panicked chicken. The only thing I remembered was how to hold the sword…kinda." He passed the globule to his left hand so that he could flick it harder without hurting himself, didn't work.

"Really?" Wade asked, skeptically.

"Yeah." He said, glaring at the globule that refused to let go. "Haven't trained enough…" _Good thing I bought that training machine. _That was the only half of his training so far that had been useful.

"So you've been training?" Wade asked, digging for info.

"A bit." Ron answered. He gave up on trying to flick the goop away and just scraped it off on the railing at the top of the stairs. A thin layer of it remained on his gloves though. "This gunk really sticks." He said. Looking down he saw he shoes and the bottom of his pants coated on the stuff and sighed. The pants and shoes were brand new and he hoped it would wash off.

Wade wanted to ask more questions but movement on his map caught his attention. _Not good. _He thought.

"Ron." He said. "You have four signatures heading your way. Three synthodrones and one human."

Ron froze as he began to go up the second set of steps, turned around and looked at the EE2 as if he could see Wade through it.

"Shego?" He asked.

"More than likely." Wade confirmed.

"Oh no." Rufus squeaked. "Oh no… oh no… Pain… Oh ho no."

"I can't handle her." Ron agreed with Rufus. "The drones are one thing, compared to Kim they move like fat, lazy snails so I could keep up. But Shego? I won't last five seconds."

"Don't worry Ron." Wade reassured. He typed a few commands and the EE2 lowered to chest height and was hidden under a holographic duplicate of Kim. "I'll lead Shego away with the EE2 then all you'll have to do is get past the drones and run to the command room. Without her there it should be easy to shoot one of Drakken's consoles and destroy his systems."

"I thought I needed to shoot the tower?" Ron asked.

"Only if it's already active." Wade clarified.

Ron thought for a moment then turned to Rufus who nodded.

"Alright." Ron agreed with a nod of his own. "Sounds like a plan."

Ron took a deep breath and went up the stairs. He stopped when he noticed the holo-Kim wasn't following.

"You coming?" He asked.

"This place is full of cameras." Wade explained. "Odds are they saw your fight with the drones and are assuming you're alone. It'd be best if 'Kim' suddenly appeared asking why you left her behind or something."

"Gotcha." Ron said. He ran up the rest of the stairs and stood in the middle of the bridge facing the double doors at the other end of it with Rufus on his shoulder. It had a very large sign that read 'Authorized Personnel Only' with a palm/retinal scanner combo on the wall next to it.

Ron almost jumped out of his skin when they were thrown open and out walked the green hued villainess in her signature green and black cat suit. She was followed by three smaller than normal synthodrones.

Shego stopped some ten meters away from where Ron stood. His heart was hammering in his chest so fast he was sure she would hear it.

_Ok, ok, ok. Calm down. _Ron told himself as they stared at each other straight in the eyes._ You can do this. Just act not scared. _

Ron stood straight, shoulders squared. He relied on comforting weight of his gear to calm himself. Focusing on the confidence its presence brought him.

He took a deep, slow breath and mentally prepared for what was coming next.

_**To Be Continued…**_

* * *

Phew! What a chapter! I hope you guys had as much fun reading this as I had visualizing and writing it._  
_

Next chapter will be action packed as well so stay tuned for someplasma infused scenes. It will also be shorter so it might be out quicker.

Later all!


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